Junko Mori
Metalsmith
North Wales, United Kingdom
Repose for the mind, hammering the refined
- Junko is a metal artist who creates sculptures in hand-forged steel and silver
- Born in Yokohama, she trained at Musashino Art University, Tokyo, and Camberwell College of Arts, London
- She is a dual master of silversmithing and blacksmithing, bridging two disciplines rarely practised together
Junko Mori describes herself as an ambassador of the repetitive process. She has been honing her skills as a metalsmith since the year 2000, deeply caring about the value of the handmade object. “At a moment when the world was prioritising the conceptual, I found the process and the journey of making to be the source of joy,” explains Junko. Her silver and steel sculptures are an accumulation of individually hand-forged, hammered and welded components that together, in their multitudes, echo plant matter, cell division, the slow and deliberate logic of nature’s growth. Based on the Llŷn Peninsula in North Wales, Junko also mentors apprentices, funds a Young Makers Award she founded with her husband and woodworker John Egan, and recently co-founded Coed Coexist, a project which drew together over 90 artists using timber from a single storm-felled beech tree. "Today, my focus is on legacy. How do we makers impact local community and the environment in a healthy way?” she asks.
INTERVIEW
I was always drawn to Buddhist statues, traditional carpentry, objects made with extraordinary skill. In my twenties, I had panic attacks and anxiety, and repetitive craft practices helped me through. I have worked on many subjects, but my focus has always been on the joy of repetitive making.
No piece is individually planned, instead it develops as it grows. I can rely on hand-hammering to ensure those subtle differences in texture and light reflection. I always accept, or even welcome, the mis-hit and the mutation of the metal. I praise errors. They are part of our humanity.
I own a handmade forging hammer that I found in a specialist metalsmithing shop in Tokyo called Sea Force (former Sasaki Komuten). It looks like a hammerhead shark head on both ends, as the ends curve in opposite ways, allowing me to push metal in different directions.
Any repetitive physical action is good for you: housework, scrubbing a floor, chopping vegetables, weeding, swimming. The problem is that we only value the outcome, but what if the process itself was the source of joy? Happiness is about loving something purely and stupidly, and never stopping doing it.
Junko Mori
Metalsmith
North Wales, United Kingdom
ADDRESS
Address upon request, North Wales, United Kingdom
AVAILABILITY
By appointment only
LANGUAGES
English, Japanese
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