Behind the doors of Tokyo’s oldest family workshops, a generational change is taking place.

Women in the traditional craft industry of Japan have long been working in the background of workshops – as family members, invisible to outsiders. Indeed, Japanese craft techniques were usually passed on within the family from the father to the eldest son. Women, on the other hand, were expected to assist without being known or their techniques being documented. Today, according to Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, women still represent only sixteen per cent of the nation’s traditional craft makers.

Women have never been excluded from entering traditional craft, to serve as assistants in the background. Becoming established, however, was a different story. Yet, times have changed. A new generation of craftswomen and apprentices is stepping into the foreground, choosing disciplines such as metal carving, cloisonné enamel, Edo lettering, or woodblock printing. The industry is evolving and favouring women makers, which is drastically changing the landscape of traditional craft.

‘Making Tokyo’s Craftswomen Visible: Traditional Techniques in Motion’ brings their world to Norwich through the lens of scholar and photographer Dr. Clara Momoko Geber-Mérida, whose research in Tokyo’s district of Arakawa has allowed her to work extensively with women makers. This exhibition presents a selection of her photographic insights, capturing the knowledge, skill, and quiet determination of women who make traditional objects in an environment that once excluded them.

Photography and curation by Dr. Clara Momoko Geber-Mérida
(Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Fellow 2025–2026)

Free entry