Hello everyone!

On May 25th, we held the 16th Japanese Cultural Experience Workshop, featuring

a “Nagoya-Style Overglaze Painting Experience: Garasumori.”

We were delighted to have 13 participants, including some from overseas, making it a very fulfilling event!

What is “Garasumori”?

Did you know that there is a unique technique called “Nagoya Painting” where pottery is decorated with overglaze painting?

One of the representative techniques is called “Dekomori”, where three-dimensional decorations are applied to the surface of white porcelain.

On top of that, there is a decorative technique called “Garasumori”, in which fine glass particles are applied.

Let’s create your own decorative plate with roses using Garasumori method!

This time, we challenged ourselves to create small decorative plates with a rose motif, making them sparkle and shine beautifully!

Participants could choose their favorite color from three different options of blue, yellow and pink!

The instructor, continuing from last year, is Hitomi Sugiyama, a first-level ceramic technician.

Ms. Sugiyama learned overglaze painting techniques in Italy and is actively engaged in preserving the craftsmanship of Nagoya Painting.

While overglaze painting might seem challenging for beginners at first glance, thanks to Ms. Sugiyama’s enjoyable and easy-to-understand lectures, everyone, including first-timers, enjoyed the authentic and beautiful Nagoya Garasumori experience.

The tools were all new to the participants!

To ensure even beginners could easily participate, Ms. Sugiyama prepared special workshop kits.

Using a tool called an “Icchin,” which has a metal tip, participants squeezed out and drew with colorful raised paste mixed with seaweed. It felt similar to icing.

Ms.Sugiyama’s Demonstration!

Let’s start getting used to the tools!

Drawing the outline of the rose in yellow is the first step.

Layering darker colors from the center of the rose. This is very delicate work. To make the rose look more beautiful, we also create a gradient with the shades of color.

Before it dries, we sprinkle and apply glass particles. Adding the glass makes it much more gorgeous!

 After Ms. Sugiyama’s demonstration, it was time for everyone to create their own pieces!

Everyone looked a bit nervous at the start, wondering if they could do it,

but once they began, they were completely immersed in their work.

I chose the pink color and, while experimenting to bring out the three-dimensionality of the rose,

I thoroughly enjoyed the process of gradually completing the rose motif.

Adding the glass particles made it sparkle and become even more glamorous！

Through the creative process, we naturally interacted and shared smiles with people from different countries, complimenting each other’s work.

Everyone was so detailed and skillful that it was hard to believe it was their first time.

Everyone’s finished pieces! They were unique and beautiful, each radiating with a diverse brilliance of roses!

Finally, we took commemorative photos with our completed works!

Everyone seemed satisfied with their creations. You grow fond of the pieces you’ve made yourself.

Ms. Sugiyama will fire everyone’s completed works.

It’s exciting to think about how the colors will change after firing!

“Nagoya-Style Overglaze Painting Experience”(Garasumori)

It was a wonderful time, full of the charm of Nagoya painting and the unique glass decoration !

Thank you very much to everyone who participated and to Ms. Sugiyama!

Staff Comments

To my embarrassment, I learned for the first time through this experience about Nagoya painting with glass decoration, a unique cultural practice in Nagoya.

I also discovered that not many people in Nagoya know about this culture and that there are few successors.

Experiencing it firsthand, I found the glass decoration painting to be dazzling, unique, and truly fitting for Nagoya, where people love glamorous things. It felt like a great loss that this culture is not being passed on.

I hope that from now on, not only Japanese people but also people from overseas will experience one of Nagoya’s unique attractions and that the beautiful culture of Nagoya painting will become more widely known, preserved, and developed.