KOMAGO Tetsutaro 小孫 哲太郎 (b. 1974)’s delightful artworks focus on surface decoration, particularly from the tradition of Arita ware and porcelain surfaces. He's interested in pictorial decoration, and how it can be elevated to contemporary motifs. This tradition is also echoed in export cloisonne produced during the Meiji period, when Western visual cultures, technologies, and 2 dimensional art (print, etchings) were being imported into Japan simultaneously. Decorations of mythical beasts and swirling clouds were brought more and more into domestic export porcelain.

Particular attention can also be paid to the creative way he decorates his accompanying tomobako (or, paulownia wood boxes).
Komago’s pieces are whimsical, etched onto surfaces and sometimes decorated with metallic gold or silver enamel. The polychrome pieces recall childhood, a subject of which there is a long visual culture and history in the decorative arts of Japan. With the visual cultures of childhood from elsewhere, one might recall little painted easter eggs from the English countryside, invoking Beatrix Potter and the whimsical naturalism in her illustrations.

Biography
1974 Born in Tokyo, Based in Saitama
1993 Graduated from the Design Course at Hongo Senior High School
1999 Graduated from Crafts Major at Department of Design and Crafts in Faculty of Arts and Crafts, Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts
1999-2001 Worked for Itoman Crafts Toen Shop, Itoman City, Okinawa Prefecture
2004 Established his own kiln in Isumi City, Chiba Prefecture
Present, resident in Tokigawa town, Saitama pref.