Lifestyle brand Lei, which has received international design awards including the Red Dot Design Award and the iF Design Award, is hosting lacquerware artist Tasuku Murose's debut solo exhibition, "Across Mountains and Clouds" (山と雲を渡る), at Lei Gallery Tokyo from Saturday, June 27, 2026. This marks Murose's first solo presentation.
Murose graduated from the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies at Keio University, then earned a doctorate in cultural property studies from the Graduate School of Literature at Tsurumi University. After years of artistic practice and research alongside his father, lacquerware artist Kazumi Murose, he became independent in 2023. He now divides his time between Tokyo and the mountains of Oku-Kuji in Ibaraki Prefecture, where he cultivates, creates, and shares the art of urushi lacquer. The exhibition features 15 works in total, centered on 13 new pieces made using maki-e and raden techniques.
An Exhibition for the Rainy Season
A single raindrop falling from a cloud becomes a stream, crosses a mountain, and returns to a cloud.
The exhibition is rooted in a contemplation of nature in perpetual transformation and circulation.
Taking as his starting point the landscapes and sensations he encounters in the mountains of Oku-Kuji, Murose works with urushi — a material whose properties shift with humidity — to trace the outlines of things in flux.
Lacquer, built up layer by layer from tree sap, produces a deep luster and sense of depth. Its appearance changes subtly with the humidity and quality of light.
The title "Across Mountains and Clouds" encodes a perspective that watches things in continuous change as they move between nature and the seasons.
This exhibition, held during the rainy season, creates a space where visitors can experience to the fullest the expressive range of lacquer — a material that reveals a different face depending on light, air, and moisture.
Featured Works
The exhibition presents 15 works in total, including 13 new pieces, all available for viewing and purchase.
Theme 1: Water
The works 乾漆蒔絵水盤「雲の泉」(Dry-lacquer maki-e water basin "Cloud Spring") and 乾漆蒔絵水器「灯」(Dry-lacquer maki-e water vessel "Light") take "adorning water" as their concept, using the forms of a basin and vessel to contemplate the water that circulates between heaven and earth.
Theme 2: Clouds
蒔絵額「雲」(Maki-e framed piece "Cloud") and 蒔絵額「気流」(Maki-e framed piece "Air Current") belong to a series of framed works. Through delicate maki-e, they depict clouds drifting through mountain valleys, wind crossing ravines, and the sensations and traces of nature that exist before they become words.
Theme 3: Plants
蒔絵螺鈿香合「紫陽花」(Maki-e raden incense box "Hydrangea"), 蒔絵香合「公孫樹」(Maki-e incense box "Ginkgo"), 花杯「白椿」(Flower cup "White Camellia"), and 花杯「福寿草」(Flower cup "Pheasant's Eye") express the vitality and momentary brilliance of plants — budding, blooming, and yellowing in autumn.
Theme 4: The Moon
蒔絵酒杯額「月暦」(Maki-e sake cup frame "Moon Calendar"), 蒔絵酒杯「望月」(Maki-e sake cup "Full Moon"), and 蒔絵酒杯「寝待月」(Maki-e sake cup "Waiting Moon") take the waxing and waning of the moon as their theme. When sake is poured, the cup tilts slightly, and the gold powder sprinkled inside creates a complex, shifting expression.
Highlights of the Exhibition
Tasuku Murose's First Solo Exhibition
This exhibition marks the debut solo show for Murose, who has pursued lacquerware from both a creative and scholarly perspective. Centered on new works created since his 2023 independence, the exhibition brings together his current technique and expression in a single space.
Works Born from Nature in Oku-Kuji
Behind each work lie the landscapes of the Oku-Kuji mountains, the changing of the seasons, the moisture-laden air, and the sense of water and clouds in circulation. While employing the traditional techniques of maki-e and raden, the works reflect the artist's own embodied experience of nature in the contemporary world.
A Viewing Experience That Changes with Humidity and Light
Lacquerware shifts in impression with light, humidity, and the state of the air. At Lei Gallery Tokyo, the natural light from the windows, the shadows it casts inside, and the luster resting on the surfaces of the works respond to one another, allowing visitors to enjoy different expressions depending on the time of day and the weather.
Exhibition Overview
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Exhibition Name | Tasuku Murose Lacquerware Exhibition "Across Mountains and Clouds" |
| Dates | Saturday, June 27 – Saturday, July 4, 2026 |
| Venue | Lei Gallery Tokyo |
| Address | UEHARA TERRACE 1F, 1-30-12 Uehara, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 151-0064 |
| Hours | 11:00 AM – 7:00 PM (closing day until 5:00 PM) |
| Artist Attendance | Artist in attendance all days |
| Admission | Free |
| Sales | Works available for purchase |
Walk-in visits are welcome throughout the run. Reservations are recommended for those who would like a guided tour by the artist.
About the Artist
Tasuku Murose (室瀬 祐)
Born in Tokyo in 1985 as the second son of lacquerware artist Kazumi Murose. He graduated from the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies at Keio University and earned a doctorate in cultural property studies from the Graduate School of Literature at Tsurumi University.
Alongside creating lacquerware, he researches the materials and techniques of cultural properties in Japan and abroad and is active in education. In June 2023, he relocated to the Oku-Kuji region of Ibaraki Prefecture — one of Japan's leading lacquer-producing areas — where he established the studio 工房 山のは (Yamanowa Studio). At the same time, he opened 文化交流拠点 なかの雲 (Nakano Kumo), a cultural exchange hub in a residential neighborhood in Nakano, Tokyo.
Since then, he has moved between Tokyo and Oku-Kuji, pursuing activities centered on cultivating lacquer trees, creating works, and sharing the art of lacquer.
