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MINGEI CollectionThe concept of mingei (民芸), variously translated as "folk craft", "folk art" or "popular art", was developed from the mid-1920s in Japan by a philosopher and aesthete, Yanagi Sōetsu (1889–1961), together with a group of craftsmen, including the potters Hamada Shōji (1894–1978) and Kawai Kanjirō (1890–1966). As such, it was a conscious attempt to distinguish ordinary crafts and functional utensils (pottery, lacquerware, textiles, and so on) from "higher" forms of art – at the time much admired by people during a period when Japan was going through rapid westernisation, industrialisation, and urban growth. In some ways, therefore, mingei may be seen as a reaction to Japan's rapid modernisation processes. The aesthetical, philosophical and theorical aspects of Mingei is summed up in "ordinary people's crafts" (minshuteki na kogei). In Soetsu Yanagi’s opinion, beauty could be found in common and utilitarian everyday objects made by nameless and unknown artisans, as opposed to higher forms of art manufactured by named artists. He claimed that the beauty of folk crafts laid in the usage of natural and local materials, handmade production, traditional design and methods, functionality, simplicity in design and form, multiplicity (items replicated in quantity) and inexpensiveness. The objects should be created by unnamed craftsmen, demonstrating a healthy attitude during the production process, and feature regional crafts, representative of the area where they were manufactured.
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