Introduction
Togo Miyashita is a wood artist from Japan on a month-long residency at Plas Glyn-y-Weddw and in Llŷn. Togo is also the third generation of Kurumaya, the famous soba restaurant located in his family’s traditional folk house in Tokyo. Raised among wooden folk crafts and Japanese culinary culture, Togo is now studying sashimono woodworking under master Takahiro Yoshino at Japan’s National Woodworking Centre at the foot of Mount Fuji.
As part of the Coed Coexist artist-in-residence exchange between Plas Glyn-y-Weddw and the studio of John Egan and Junko Mori in Tudweiliog (thanks to funding from the Welsh Government through the Wales Arts International fund), Togo is spending the month of December in Llŷn learning about the culture of the area, visiting local schools, and gaining valuable experience in the studios of John Egan and Junko Mori in Tudweiliog. Togo specialises in crafting boxes and small chests that honour the natural character of wood, aiming to bring warmth to dining spaces while connecting woodworking cultures within Japan and beyond.
About Togo Miyashita
Togo Miyashita (born 1999, Tokyo) was raised in a family that ran a soba restaurant in a traditional folk house, spending his childhood surrounded by wooden folk crafts and Japanese food culture. Since 2023, he has studied under woodworker Takahiro Yoshino at the foot of Mt. Fuji, learning traditional Japanese woodworking techniques centred on joinery. He crafts boxes and small chests using methods that draw on the inherent properties of wood without employing metal components. Guided by lessons in harmony with nature from life in the forest, he pursues two goals: creating wooden pieces that bring warmth and joy to dining spaces, and serving as a bridge between woodworking cultures both within Japan and internationally, while cherishing traditional Japanese techniques.
Artist Statement
Follow Togo on Instagram: @wootogo.working