Kyohei Fujita

Kyohei Fujita (藤田 喬 平 Fujita Kyōhei, 1921 - September 18, 2004) was a Japanese glass artist.
The name Koyhei Fujita is synonymous with "Liuli box" - and not just a box.

He is best known for his glass boxes with surface decorations. His work has been included in the One of a Kind: The Studio Craft Movement exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, December 22, 2006 - September 3, 2007, as well as in several exhibitions at major galleries and museums, including the Museum Kunstpalast Düsseldorf and the Fuller Craft Museum.

Kyohei has collaborated with various Murano furnaces including Ars Murano, Stefano Toso, Mariano Moro, and Roberto Maria Cammozzo.

Fujita began by studying in the metal department at the Tokyo Academy of Arts (now Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music) and from 1949 became an independent glass artist. During these years, he was one of the few artists who worked with glass in Japan and helped bring the Studio Glass Movement to Japan. In 1989, he was appointed the sole glass artist to the Japan Art Academy, an honorary society for artists who have contributed significantly to the development of the arts. Kyohei Fujita is the continuer of the Japanese tradition of handmade paper craftsmanship. It can be said that he represents Liuli modern Japanese art of the last fifty years.

The word "tradition" is the common thread of Kyohei's entire path, his effort, and his passion are all aimed at recognizing and treasuring the past to enrich the present. The future as an unknown is not the subject of his research. Another interesting concept of his thought is aimed at the human being as a social animal. Loneliness is but a phase, taking care of others, recognizing and accepting the past are the way to overcome it. His boxes all contain an ever-expanding ray of hope emanating from the essential beauty of life.

A delicate and ornate Japanese Liuli Jewel box.