About
Maiko Tsutsumi
Thingness is a quality that evokes in me, the sense of grounded presence — quiet yet alive. My multi-faceted practice promotes this quality through the practice of making, writing, curating, and mentoring.
About me — Maiko Tsutsumi
I studied and apprenticed in woodworking and Japanese lacquer work in Kyoto in the 1990s before moving to London to study furniture design at the Royal College of Art. I later completed a PhD, The Poetics of Everyday Objects at Kingston University while working in the furniture and product design industry. In 2008, I took on the course leader role for MA Designer Maker at Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London, which I ran until 2020.
The underlining principle of my practice — making, research, curating, teaching and facilitating — is rooted in the culture of craftsmanship I experienced during my training in woodworking and Japanese lacquer work in Kyoto, Japan. Predating these trainings, frequent visits to the collection of ethnological objects at the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka made a profound impact on me. The collection introduced me to the world of tools, ornaments, instruments, that are, deeply connected to how people live, in ways specific to their culture and environment. There I felt, each thing carried a powerful presence, which became the set point for the quality I seek in my engagement with the world. This experience demonstrated to me, the act of tool-making as meaning making, that bridges the spheres of humanity and the natural world.
My curatorial practice began as a platform to share my research process with students who were developing their creative practices. The research on the subjects around material engagement as a meeting point between the material and human agencies has given me an insight into how conscious engagement with the world through materiality aids our creative and critical thinking processes. My research areas includes makers’ relationship to tacit knowing, language, and gestures.
I continue to explore these themes in broader societal contexts, with a firm belief in the empowering wisdom of conscious engagement with inherent material qualities, and the value of the skills that transform such qualities into meaningful forms.
I am represented by Corvi-Mora in London, UK.
Contact: info@maikotsutsumi.com
Biography
Education
2003 — 2007 PhD (The Poetics of Everyday Objects)
Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture, Kingston University, UK
1996 — 1998 MA(RCA) Furniture, Royal College of Art, UK
1990 — 1994 BA Craft (Japanese Lacquer Work and Woodwork), Kyoto City University of Arts, Japan
Solo Exhibitions
2025 Timbre, House 3, Walmer Yard, (with Corvi-Mora), London
2024 Meditations, Corvi-Mora, London
2023 Catalogue of Time, Ken Artspace, London
2022 We Are the Orchard and the Road Leading Past, Momosan Shop, London
2019 Hidden Variables, m2 Gallery, London
Group Exhibitions (Selected)
2026 Weft, Frieze 9 Cork Street, London
2025 Wholeness Remnants Fragments, Crafts Study Centre, Farnham, Surrey (co-curator/exhibitor)
2024 Four Days in June, Edmund de Waal studio, London
2024 Corvi-Mora at Neither: Shawanda Corbett, Anika Roach, Maiko Tsutsumi, Neither, London
2022 A Space Between, Edmund de Waal studio, London
2022 Eternally Yours: Care, Repair, Healing, Somerset House, London
Awards & Residecies
2026 Georg Jensen Contemporary Prize
2026 Læsø Art & Culture, Læsø, Denmark
Twelve-week funded residency at Per Kirkeby’s former studio
2021 Cove Park, Scotland, Four-week funded residency
2003-07 Faculty PhD scholarship, Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture, Kingston University, UK
Selected Media
2024 Getting Making: Care podcast (interviewed by Bridget Harvey)
2024 The Craft School: Material World, Creative Mending, Crafts Council (interviewed by Jo Haywood)
2023 Countercurrent podcast (interviewed by Professor Roger Kneebone)
2020 Artist conversation with Edmund de Waal and Maiko Tsutsumi,
[https://blog.skd.museum/en/mediathek/artist-talk-with-edmund-de-waal-and-maiko-tsutsumi/],
Library of Exile exhibition, Japanisches Palais, Dresden, Germany
Curatorial Projects
2018 On the Way to Language, Camberwell Space, London
2015 The Department of Repair, Camberwell Space, London (co-curator)
2013 Thingness: The Collection, exhibition and workshops, Camberwell Space, London (co-curator)
2012 The Laundry Room, BalinHouseProjects, London (funded by the Arts Council England) (co-curator)
2011 Thingness, exhibition and symposium, Camberwell Space, London (co-curator)
Selected Publications & Writing
2025 Wholeness Remnants Fragments, Crafts Study Centre, Farnham, UK
2024 Appreciating Yanagi, Sori Yanagi Appreciation Society website,
[https://syas.uk/blogs/journal/appreciating-yanagi?_pos=1&_sid=a7a43de30&_ss=r]
2024 Meditations, artist book accompanying the solo exhibition Meditations, at Corvi-Mora, London
2023 ‘Theaster Gates: A Clay Sermon’ Exhibition review, The Journal of Modern Craft, Vol. 15, Issue 3
2022 We are the Orchard and the Road Leading Past, an essay, exhibition leaflet, Momosan Shop,
London
2020 ‘Designer Maker Mindsets’ In Research Circle, a publication by Centre for Circular Design
edited by Rebecca Earley, University of the Arts London
2018 On the Way to Language, London: Camberwell Space
2016 ‘Seeing and Knowing’, Crafts, No.259, p30, London: Crafts Council
2015 The Department of Repair (Co-editor/contributor), London: Art Lacuna
2014 ‘Social Engagement: The Laundry Room and BalinHouseProjects’, CCW Graduate School directory,
London: University of the Arts London
2013 Thingness: The Collection, London: Camberwell Press
2013 The Laundry Room, London: The Everyday Press (Co-editor/contributor)
2011 Thingness, London: Camberwell Press (Co-author)
Selected Lectures & Papers
2025 ‘One Equal Music’, The Art Worker’s Guild Lecture, The Art Worker’s Guild, London
2021 ‘We Do Not Work Alone: unfolding the quality of experience through a hybrid practice’, Material
Matters symposium, City & Guilds of London Art School, London
2018 ‘Thoughts and Utterances in Material Practice: Objects and Words / Thoughts and Actions’, Utsuwa
Utsushi symposium, University of the Arts London
2017 Panelist, Round-Table discussion ‘Considering the Status and Context of Craft in Japan and the UK’,
City and Guilds of London Art School
2016 ‘Reconfiguring making and design practices: reviewing the meaning of knowledge and skills in
socio-cultural contexts’, Undesign symposium, University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria
2014 ‘Teaching Thingness in Making’, The Languages of Making: Learning and Craft in Dialogue
symposium, Kingston University
2013 ‘What does it mean to be a “materially attuned” practitioner?’ The 2nd Design Research Society /
Cumulus International Conference for Design Education Researchers, Oslo, Norway