''Hi! My name is Hugh and I am a Taiwanese-American currently studying urushi in Japan with artist Nagatoshi Onishi. My background is in fine furniture and prior to coming to Japan I studied at The Krenov School in California. My good friend and mentor Joe Amaral opened up the world of urushi to me and I fell in love ever since. Joe specializes in stunning decorative surfaces, but my personal interest has always been more in form. Choosing to study with Onishi sensei was about more than just learning urushi techniques. I was seeking his guidance to help [...]

Seerp Visser was born in 1943 and educated in mechanical engineering (Ing, MsC). From 1964 - 1990 he worked for major petrochemical oil companies as Aramco Saudi Arabia and Shell and also for his own company, which later extended to the "Piscator" group of companies, as an engineer. From 1990 he educated as a blacksmith and was employed by the Belgian blacksmith Idir Mecibah for a couple years. Then he became a teacher for blacksmithing at the Royal Academy of Art in Antwerp. He is now a blacksmith specialized for the restoration of metal objects and studies the forging methods [...]

The Institute ISI is the only school in Indonesia where the production of Keris is taught. Dietrich Drescher has also forged blades in their own forge once before. During a guided tour, we had an insight into the different areas of the institute where different arts and design can be studied. The university exists since 53 years and teaches in addition to graphic design, photography and theater the World Culture Heritage listed art forms such as the batik art, the art of the shadow theater and the gamelan playing. In the university, we met empu "Rumpun Ilmu" who has also [...]