Crafting Singularity for Export

Ilja van Damme is a full professor in urban history at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, where he is a board member of the Centre for Urban History and the Urban Studies Institute. He specializes in the analysis of Belgian urban life and culture in the modern period (eighteenth–twentieth centuries). In his research, he focuses on modernization processes, paying specific attention to consumption, shopping and tourism history, changes in the public and private spheres and topics affiliated with the city as a place of creative and socio-cultural interaction.

A Past of One’s Own? Historical Culture, Product Design, and Place Identity at Belgium’s Industrial Expositions in the Nineteenth Century

My paper proposes to investigate Belgium’s nineteenth-century industrial expositions as important precursors of the more well-known world fairs. More specifically, I will analyze how these expositions functioned as important nuclei of urban place promotion, and crucibles of national identity formation. Very quickly, industrial exhibitions become places and events to forge and mediate the built up of a national style and design.

This was seen as paramount to strengthen the international position of Belgium’s industries and craftwork and facilitate the export of its products. Arguments about the past, historical culture, and the supposed age-old quality of Belgium’s crafership played a key role in these discussions. Only by reconnecting with an age to be situated before the perceived dominance of French fashions, could Belgium become successful in having a national style and design identity of its own. Only by looking at, and learning from the past, could the modernizing nation confidently move ahead in the future.

^{Picture: Nationale nijverheidstentoonstelling te Brussel, 1830 - 1830 - Rijksmuseum, Netherlands - Public Domain. https://www.europeana.eu/nl/item/90402/RP_P_OB_87_596}

Miki Sugiura is Professor of Global Economic History at Hosei University, Tokyo, Japan. Her research explores the global circulation of textiles, crafts, and terroir products (wine and tea), as well as the urban and institutional infrastructures that enabled them. She has published on European distribution networks (2019; 2022), Japanese lacquer exports (2025), intercultural textile circulation (2023), migration and goods circulation in East and South Africa (forthcoming 2026), and clothing reuse economies (2018). Since 2024, she has been leading a JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) project, The Rise of Singularity Product Trade: Export Promotion and Information Platforms, c.1850–1930s, which examines how craft and industrial goods were reframed as singular export items in global markets.

Introduction: Crafting Singularity Through Export in the 1830s–1930s

This presentation introduces the “singularity” conceptual framework, examining how craft, design and regional products were defined and valued as distinctive export goods between the 1830s and 1930s. Rather than focusing on a single case study, the presentation highlights the roles played by export promotion, information platforms, exhibitions, museums and material categories in shaping export identities across regions. The introduction emphasises the historical interplay between craft, industry, and place-making in global markets.

^{Picture: Yōshū Chikanobu, Dainikai Ueno Naikoku Kangyo Hakurankai no Zu (Second National Industrial Exhibition at Ueno), woodblock print (nishiki-e), 1881. Collection of the Hagi Museum, Yamaguchi, Japan.}

Tomonobu Minami is an Associate Professor of Economic History at Momoyama Gakuin University (St. Andrew’s University, Japan). His research examines Japan’s export-promotion policies across the interwar and postwar periods. He analyzes how the national and local governments expanded export agencies across various countries to promote overseas trade, and how Japanese businesspeople organized “travelling merchants” who were dispatched abroad to explore foreign markets. He also studies the institutional history of design and craft promotion, including Industrial Arts Research Institutes, and their roles in linking regional production to global markets.

How Export Goods Were Shaped: The Impact of Urban and Regional Export Promotions in Japan

This presentation focuses on how both the national and local governments in prewar Japan supported the export of crafts through the creation of Industrial Arts Research Institutes (Kōgei Shidōsho). These institutes, first established by the national government in 1928 and later by many prefectures and cities, were set up to improve design, production, and marketing for export-oriented crafts. By sending instructors to workshops and organizing exhibitions, they encouraged cooperation between officials and local makers. The presentation also explains how the idea of “craft exports” developed from earlier policies on “miscellaneous goods,” as the government aimed to promote higher-value products during the 1930s. Through these institutional efforts, Japan began to build a national system in which both central and regional governments worked together to support small manufacturers and connect regional industries with international markets.

^{Picture: Industrial Arts Research Institute, City of Sendai, founded in 1928.}

Takuya Miyake is a researcher specializing in architectural history and museum studies. In his book, Kindai Nihon “Chinretsujo” Kenkyu (Commercial Museum in Modern Japan) (Shibunkaku Shuppan, 2015), he explores the construction, organization, and roles of commercial museums in 19th- and 20th-century Japan, including how they were influenced by Western countries and expanded to Japanese cities. In addition to research, he is working on practice in architectural archives. Takuya is an associate professor at the Kyoto Institute of Technology and is staying at the University of Antwerp and the Flanders Architecture Institute (VAi) for his research during 2025-2026.

Projecting Urban Singularity: Kyoto Commercial Museum (est 1909) and Expanding Export Categories

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, commercial museums were established worldwide to promote both domestic and international trade. Using Kyoto as a case study, this chapter demonstrates how such a museum sought to shape the identity of the city in which it was located. The Kyoto Commercial Museum (KCM), founded by the city of Kyoto in 1909 with the support of leading merchants and manufacturers, showcased Kyoto as “the home of typical Japanese”. Through its displays and publications, the KCM promoted the city’s traditional products — many of them applied arts. However, the museum’s director recognized the limited market for luxury items and aimed to develop new strengths based on Kyoto’s traditions and culture. This included developing modern designs, promoting gardening as an export industry, and encouraging handicrafts, particularly toys. This chapter also examines the Kyoto pavilion, which the KCM director organized at the Japan-British Exhibition in 1910.

^{Picture: Kyoto Shōhin Chinretsujo (Kyoto Commercial Display Centre).}

Misato Ido received her Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Cultural Studies from the University of Tokyo in 2011. In 2017, her dissertation was published as a monograph examining the visual representations and symbolic meanings of premodern Japanese genre paintings. She is currently an associate professor at the Kyoto Institute of Technology, where she researches Japanese art with a focus on folding screens and the spaces in which they were appreciated. Her most recent research focuses on landscape paintings depicting famous places, known as meisho. Recently, she has expanded her research to include the reception of Japanese arts and crafts during the modernization process.

Reorganizing the Classics: Architecture, Interiors, Furniture, and Crafts in Dialogue

In the process of modernizing by following the West, Japan sought to create an image of itself as a nation possessing a long tradition centered on the Imperial Family. This paper explores the phenomenon of re-evaluating ancient patterns derived from notable buildings such as the Shosoin, the ancient treasure house of the imperial family, and the Byodoin, the famous villa / Buddhist temple of a Heian-period courtier. These buildings became iconic symbols of Japan in the Modern era. It should be noted that those traditional patterns derived from ancient buildings were reinterpreted as 'styles' and adopted for the design of arts and crafts intended for export, as well as for buildings such as ceilings, wallpapers and furniture that were used for diplomatic purposes. I will argue that these designs were believed to have a unique Japanese origin, distinct from the West and other Asian countries, yet they were also considered to have universal value.

^{Picture: Kosei Chōshō 古制徴証 [Illustration for Art Craft, 1903]}

^{https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1701839/1/35 (NDL Digital Collections)}

Matori Yamamoto is a socio-cultural anthropologist and Professor Emerita at Hosei University. She earned her BA and MA at the University of Tokyo, and her PhD at the Graduate University for Advanced Studies. Among her numerous publications, she edited Art and Identity in the Pacific: Pacific Festival of Arts (Japan Center for Area Studies, Osaka, 2006), and contributed a paper titled 'Heritage and Identity: Contemporary Art Practices of Pacific Peoples in New Zealand' to Arts in the Margins of World Encounters (eds. by Willemijn de Jong, Eriko Aoki and John Clammer, Vernon Press, 2021).

Contradiction and Ambiguity: Success Story of Mingei

Mingei (folk craft) is an art movement founded by the intellectual philosopher Muneyoshi Yanagi and his followers in the mid-1920s. They found beauty in ordinary crafts, which they considered to be at the opposite end of the spectrum to fine arts and expensive crafts created by renowned artists. They emphasised the value of everyday crafts that were handmade by anonymous craftsmen using traditional methods that were in line with their rural environment. Many local intellectuals promoted the Mingei movement in their own localities and craft categories. Many of these areas still have museums and craft shops and continue to preserve their craft traditions under the Mingei brand. Although the movement promoted Japanese culture, it was supported by urban, middle-class consumers who were influenced by Western culture to a greater or lesser extent. Due to the contradictions and ambiguities that will be discussed in detail during the session, the Mingei movement enjoyed success.

^{Picture: Round lidded box by Kawai Kanjirō, one of the Mingei potter, Honolulu Museum of Art Collection.}

Bert De Munck (1967) is full Professor at the History Department at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, teaching ‘Early Modern History’, ‘Theory of Historical Knowledge’, and ‘History of Science and Society’. He is member of the Centre for Urban History, Antwerp, and board member of the Antwerp Urban Studies Institute. His research is at the intersection of social history, urban history and the history of knowledge, with a focus on solidarity, craftsmanship and the evaluation of skills and knowledge. His publications include Guilds, Labour and the Urban Body Politic: Fabricating Community in the Southern Netherlands, 1300-1800 (Routledge, 2018), ‘Artisans as knowledge workers: Craft and creativity in a long term perspective’, Geoforum, 99 (February 2019): 227-237.

Reinventing Craft: A Historical View on the Value of Craftership

While crafts are back on the scientific and political agenda, our way of looking at them is historically contingent. My contribution starts from the assumption that crafts are currently valued andassessed as heritage and as the opposite of innovation and creativity – in the words of Glenn Adamson as “the antithesis of modernity”. This translates in crafts being caught in historically grown dichotomies such as theory versus practice, design versus making, arts versus crafts, abstract versus embodied knowledge and mind versus hand. My paper will uncover the historical developments behind these cultural frames of reference, not only to provide insight into the current state of affairs, but also to offer alternative ways of looking at present-day crafts and craftership.

^{Picture: Flemish project “Schatten van/in mensen” of 2010 (Living human treasures).}

Dr. Vitaly Volkov (1985) is an affiliated researcher at the History Department at the University of Antwerp. He has broad interest for the various aspects of modern and contemporary history, including but not limited to the urban history, business and socioeconomic history as well as history of technology. He has a special interest for the comparative and transnational approach. Currently, he is working on the history of Belgian relief efforts for the victims of the Great Kantō Earthquake (1923) as well as other cases of international humanitarianism.

Window-glass from Belgium: Global Outreach of Regional Industry

During the 19th century, Belgium was one of the most prominent window-glass manufacturers on the global scale. Interestingly, this industry was characterised by very strong regional embeddedness at the same time, as it was almost exclusively concentrated within a small region in Belgium. Therefore, my contribution will focus on the complex interplay between the regional and international–even global–scales. I will show how the local governance structures, that emerged within this small region, developed international connections of various kinds. Hereby, I will put a special emphasis on the importance of Japan as a promising market. I will conclude my contribution with a curious (if failed) attempt of Belgian investments in the Japanese glass industry, as the history of failures can teach us (at least) as much as the history of successes.

Hiroko Gotō is a professor of the faculty of economics at Hosei University. She majored in modern Irish history and holds a PhD from Trinity College Dublin (1998). After accidentally learning about the architecture of Irishwoman Eileen Gray in Le Midi, Gotō became interested in the collaboration between Gray and Goto's fellow countryman, Sugawara Seizō, a lacquer artist in Paris. Since then, she has been researching the influence of Sugawara and Katsu Hamanaka'slacquer art in Paris during the Art Deco era on the Japanese lacquer work world and published “Katsu HAMANAKA: A decorative Artist in Paris and His Time” (2025).

Renewing Craft Aesthetics: Matsuda Gonroku and Makie-Lacquer

Japanese lacquer work was a traditional finishing technique for Buddhist altar fittings. However, since Naohiko Masaki took up his post as the principal of Tokyo Fine Arts School, lacquer work evolved into lacquer art. Without Masaki, Seizo Sugawara would never have had a chance to teach lacquer work to E. Gray and J.Dunand in Paris. It was Gonroku Matsuda who realized Masaki's goal of establishing "Japanese lacquer art." Matsuda possessed exceptional skills, a thorough knowledge of the diverse lacquerware techniques accumulated in Japan, and design skills acquired through self-conscious study. Inspired by the application of lacquerware to interior decoration in Europe, Matsuda experimented with various applications. From the mid-1930s onward, however, Matsuda began to explore the singularity of Japanese lacquer art and discovered the Yamato-e school, especially Ogata Korin, as a Japanese tradition. He expressed the Japanese beauty by combining Yamato-e designs with a technique of using eggshells to create a white color.

^{Picture: Matsuda Gonroku (right) and Naohiko Masaki (left), Wikimedia Commons.}

Keiko Suzuki received her Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, in 2006. A former professor and deputy-director, Art Research Center, Ritsumeikan University, she is a class instructor, Graduate School of Letter, Ritsumeikan University. Her recent publications include: “Border-crossings Seen in Machine Printing and Designs,” in Kimono and Designs (in Japanese; Minerva Shobo), ed. by Masakazu Shimada, pp.125-149, 2020; and “Kimono Culture in Twentieth-Century Global Circulation: Kimonos, Aloha Shirts, Suka-jan, and Happy Coats,” in Linking Cloth/Clothing Globally, ed. by Miki Sugiura, pp. 272-298, 2019.

Tableware, Insulators, and Toilets: Rise of a Ceramics Corporate Conglomerate in Nagoya

This presentation examines the rise of the Morimura Group, a corporate conglomerate that came to represent Japan’s ceramics industry. It highlights two aspects of its singularity: the strategic choice of production region and the creation of new industrial categories between the 1830s and 1930s. The Morimura brothers, who began an import–export business in Tokyo in 1876, founded Nippon Toki (later Noritake) to produce Western-style porcelain for export. Rather than Seto or Mino, they chose Nagoya, a region without a deep-rooted ceramic heritage, which enabled the rapid adoption of foreign technology and modern management. By 1936, the group had expanded to six companies, each addressing the demands of a modernizing Japan, such as tableware, insulators, and toilets. This case study argues that the Morimura Group exemplifies singularity, achieved by strategically carving out a niche in both production region and industrial category.

^{Picture: “Old Noritake tea set with rose design in polychrome enamel and raised gold decoration” (1891-1921), Collection of Noritake Museum, Image by Asturio Cantabrio, Wikimedia Commons.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Noritake_ac_(4).jpg}

David Hopkin is Professor of European Social History at the University of Oxford where his research focuses on oral cultures. He is also the current President of the Folklore Society, probably the oldest organisation dedicated to documenting and analysing popular traditions. He is writing a book on ‘Lacemakers—poverty, religion and gender in a transnational work culture’.

Lace and the Flemish Movement, 1830-1920

Lace, and lacemakers, held an ambiguous position in the Flemish Movement. Belgian writers claimed lace as an invention of Flanders’ Golden Age. Lace was connected to other expressions of Flemish creativity, such as Gothic architecture. While many cultural industries had fled during the wars, lacemakers remained. Their training had preserved the seeds of a Flemish literary tradition, because their work-songs – another inheritance of the Golden Age – were an inspiration to Flemish poets such as Van Duyse. Yet lacemakers were simultaneously the epitome of ‘Poor Flanders’ – oppressed by the poverty, ignorance and inertia that writers claimed blighted the region. For liberals and socialists, lacemakers also illustrated the pernicious effects of the Church’s grip on women. These tensions undermined attempts in the twentieth century to revive the handmade lace industry, and illustrate how the legacy of the past could be both a heritage and a burden.

^{Picture: Postcard for ‘Les amies de la dentelle’ association, 1912.}

Reimagining the Valorization of Craftership and Rethinking the Role of Geographical Indications (TBA)