TOKYO.- The Fondation d’entreprise Hermès announced the publication of a book titled Savoir & Faire: KINZOKU, le métal in autumn 2025 through Iwanami Shoten, as part of its Skills Academy initiative. This initiative aims to re-examine, preserve and expand traditional craftsmanship and techniques that use natural materials. This book follows previous publications on wood and clay, and contains translations of selected essays and interviews from the 2018 French edition Savoir & Faire: le métal, co-published by Actes Sud and the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès, as well as original texts, interviews and portfolios.
To accompany the launch of this publication, Hermès Maison Ginza Le Forum hosts a group exhibition on the theme of ‘Metal,’ showcasing related works. Gold, silver, iron, lead, brass...From the Bronze Age to the present day, metals have accompanied human civilisation, embodying the diverse of the minerals from which they are derived and the techniques used to process them. In the publication, sociologist and historian Hugues Jacquet, supervisor of the Skills Academy in France, uses the term “ambivalence” to refer to the characteristic of metal. What cultural dimensions does this physical quality inherent in the material possess? For instance, the act of extracting and refining metals from ore has become a motif in the world of mythology and magic, with the brave figures of craftsmen wielding the burning red flames and the loud clanging of tools still evoking awe in the memories of people today. In this exhibition, three artists attempt to interpret and re-examine metal from the perspectives of music, film, and sculpture, exploring its ambivalence while delving into themes such as medieval alchemy and modern rationality, symbolism conveyed through sound, darkness and light, and social hierarchy associated with metal as a material. Élodie Lesourd will analyse metal music semiotically, while film director Maiko Endo creates inner universes and manifestations using the traditional Japanese materials of vermillion and mercury as a medium. Finally, Chu Enoki creates works using scrap materials, superimposing human activity onto the Earth as a metal ball/iron sphere.
Chu Enoki (b.1944, in Zentsuji, Kagawa Prefecture) currently lives and works in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture. Commencing his artistic practice in the late 1960s centering on the Kansai region, he worked as a member of the avant-garde artist group “JAPAN KOBE ZERO” (1970-76), after which he began organizing entire exhibitions himself, searching for venues across the city. He has pursued his own unique form of artistic expression with an eclectic practice that encompasses unconventional performances such as “Went to Hungary with HANGARI” (1977), in which he shaved off all the hair on one side of his body, and “Bar Rose Chu” (1979) that entailed dressing as a bar hostess to entertain visitors, as well as sculptures and objects featuring guns and canons, and works that breathe new life into used steel and metal parts. In parallel to his career as an artist, Enoki continued to work as a metal mold craftsman until retirement age, his lifestyle and career of which has had a strong influence on many artists.
