Creating A Documentary Film Compendium on the Mingei (Japanese Folk Craft) Movement
Remembering
Over the past 35 years, filmmaker Marty Gross has collected films and unedited film footage documenting celebrated British artist-craftsman, Bernard Leach and the origins of the Mingei (Folk Craft) Movement in Japan, which remains of enduring influence to this day.
Restoring
The collection of films includes some early independent films and very significant unseen footage. Now we are restoring and enhancing these films covering more than half a century in the development of this exceptional artistic and cultural movement.
Regenerating
The Mingei Project is particularly important because the films capture a pivotal time in history following Leach and such seminal Japanese figures as philosopher Soetsu Yanagi and potter Shoji Hamada, as they developed ideas that changed the direction of hand craftsmanship.
A Comprehensive Film Archive
The completed work will be the definitive audio-visual media resource on the Mingei pottery-making traditions for craftspeople, collectors, students, historians and the general public.
It will chart the development of the core ideas of the Mingei Movement, and trace its roots in Japanese Buddhist philosophy.