Noritaka Tatehana | Profile

Born in Tokyo in 1985, raised in Kamakura. Graduated in 2010 from the Department of Crafts, Dyeing and Weaving, at the Tokyo University of the Arts. From his student years he researched Japan's traditional culture, in particular the dress of Edo-period courtesans, working on yūzen-dyed kimono and geta.

He works under the concept of "Rethink," re-examining Japan's traditional culture and the techniques of its crafts from a contemporary viewpoint, to express the values of those of us living today. His signature work, Heel-less Shoes, inspired by the tall geta worn by oiran courtesans, won international recognition as a piece that questions the relationship between the body's structure and its sense of beauty. It is held in museum collections around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

His work crosses the boundary between fashion and art, and in recent years has expanded from sculpture into painting. In 2016, at the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain in Paris, he directed a performance of Ningyō Jōruri Bunraku puppet theater, among other work in stage direction. He has shown work at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, the Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum, and the Panasonic Shiodome Museum of Art, among others, and has served as a specially invited professor at Joshibi University of Art and Design since 2019.

He also continues an ongoing effort to connect traditional craft techniques to contemporary form, working with craftsmen across Japan. He continues, to this day, to explore the new possibilities of expression that emerge from crossing the boundaries between fields.

Photo: GION