Ai and Hiroyuki Tokeshi work with Okinawan wood, an exacting material, drawing on a local tradition of woodworking and lacquerware.
Hiroyuki Tokeshi was born in Okinawa in 1980. In 2003, he became an apprentice at Kirimoto Mokkō in Wajima. After leaving the workshop, he trained in woodturning under Shigeru Kanchō before returning to Okinawa to establish his own practice. In 2011, he presented his first solo exhibition under the name Mokushikkō Tokeshi. Since 2016, he has also been developing the brand Nakayama Mokkō. Ai Tokeshi was born in Okinawa in 1979. In 2003, she worked in Wajima at the workshops of Toshio Fukuda and Akito Akagi. After returning to Okinawa in 2010, she set up as an independent artist. Since 2011, she has been presenting her work as part of Mokushikkō Tokeshi while also pursuing an individual practice as a lacquer artist.
Photo: Wataru Oshiro
Based in Nago, in the northern part of Okinawa Island, Hiroyuki and Ai Tokeshi run the atelier Mokushikkō Tokeshi. The bowls, utensils and everyday objects shaped by their hands appear imbued with the generous, untamed vitality of the land itself, echoing the presence of the Yanbaru forest that stretches endlessly around their workspace.
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