From April 2023 to March 2024, SBRICK's Craft Base hosted exhibitions and workshops featuring artists from both within and outside Awaji Island. This report details the activities of four artists over the course of a year.

Light and light harmonize, reflecting brilliantly and erratically.

The first featured artist is "YouRuMaru." This art unit, comprised of Suguru Funaki and Rie Kaku, creates art pieces and products that serve as meditation devices, evoking a sense of relaxation in both mind and body.

In preparation for its unveiling at the "Nobishiro Fest" held in June, YouRuMaru began exhibiting at Craft Base in April. YouRuMaru specializes in creating spatial lighting effects.

The light art displayed at Craft Base this time is made from washi paper upcycled from onion peels from Awaji Island. Natural pigments extracted from onion peels are used to add variations in the colors of the flower petals.

At the "Nobishiro Festival," a work titled "Light Piller," which mimicked the light pillars that appear in the sky above Awaji Island, was exhibited in the main hall. The light pillars create a fantastical scene, appearing as reflections of lights from fishing boats and city lights. At the opening of the two-day "Nobishiro Festival," the artist, Rie Kaku, performed an Indian dance in front of the vividly reflected light.

YouRuMaru

An art unit formed by Suguru Funaki and Rie Kaku. Based on the concepts of "connection," "flow," and "circulation," they express connections and integration between different fields using a variety of methods. They create art pieces and products that serve as meditative devices that evoke a sense of relaxation in mind and body. They create three-dimensional works incorporating Japanese traditions and techniques, and design light spaces in commercial facilities, hotels, castles, and other traditional buildings throughout Japan. They also sell lighting in department stores and conduct interactive art workshops called "Origami Workshops" that can be enjoyed by children and adults alike. They have also participated in exhibitions overseas, such as in London and Paris, receiving critical acclaim.

Bugs in the city that turn the ordinary into the extraordinary.

In summerKamoi Paper Processing Co., Ltd.The masking tape brand developed bymtA collaboration event between "[Name of company/organization]" and S BRICK will be held.

An exhibition featuring masking tape by "BugMask" was also held as a CRAFTARTIST. In conjunction with this exhibition, a resident of Awaji Island...Yosuke Okita(Attitude inc. CEO / Art Director) and mari (ARIHIRUAA guerrilla unit formed by the captain and designer.

The act of using masking tape to cover or add to something. The concept of this exhibition is to create a "bug" (anomaly) in the town of Sumoto.

Wearing a mask can make colors you wouldn't normally notice suddenly stand out, allow you to encounter things you wouldn't normally pay attention to, expose you to new aspects of yourself, and even help you discover aspects of yourself you didn't know existed.

If we shift our perspective and way of thinking a little, we realize that "sameness" doesn't exist in the city. When we encounter something different, a "new phenomenon," what kind of glitches occur in our brains? Perhaps a sense of unease arises while we become accustomed to our everyday lives, and opportunities to rediscover the charm of the town arise all over the place.

Masking tape art was displayed throughout the city. Some of these pieces were actually only shown for about two days as a guerrilla display before the exhibition, and were displayed at SBRICK as an archive, making for a very worthwhile exhibition.

BugMask

A resident of Awaji IslandYosuke Okita(Attitude inc. CEO / Art Director) and mari (ARIHIRUAA guerrilla unit formed by the captain and designer. They bonded over their shared belief that when the real world starts to become routine (becomes everyday), something goes wrong in the mind. They attempt to experiment with transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary, which will lead to new ways of seeing and perceiving things, and from there, draw out human creativity and potential.

Responding to the island, and continuing to create.

A craft beer brewery in Minamiawaji CityNAMINO OTO BREWING"and the brand's designerksk/keisuke teradaHis exhibition was held.

NAMINO OTO BREWING opened in June 2023 in Keino Matsubara, Minami Awaji City. The representative, Mr. Kono, studied agriculture from undergraduate to graduate school, then worked for a food processing company. After that, he trained at Kotobuki Shuzo (Kuninocho Beer) in Takatsuki, Osaka, where he was involved in sake brewing and craft beer brewing.

As he delved into the fascinating world of beer brewing, he had a sudden inspiration to "create a variety of craft beers." Thus began NAMINO OTO BREWING, a brewery that "makes the most of its ingredients." Using the abundant ingredients of Awaji Island, they spent a year, and now, in their second year, they have produced an impressive 31 different beers. (June 2023 - January 2025)

Initially, they planned to release about one new item per month, but the sheer volume of materials available on the island exceeded their expectations, causing the number of new items to increase rapidly.

Furthermore, in response to the beer, a different design was created for each brand. This was done by ksk/keisuke terada, a graphic designer based in Osaka. Apparently, Kono and terada originally worked together at Kotobuki Sake Brewery.

Each time a beer is brewed, they send a summary of the ingredients and background story, and a design is created based on that. It's truly like a jam session, combining each other's passions to create the beer.

An archive exhibition summarizing that "first year" is being held at Craft Base. The exhibition showcases the beer and its design that were born from collaborations with producers on Awaji Island. The memories of these unique products depict the process from the creation of the beer to the subsequent development of the design.

Important things that we tend to forget.

Things that aren't commonly sold. What are some things that aren't sold in this world? They exhibited "Nai-ya," a shop that operates stores that don't exist in this world.

The artist who concluded the 2024 fiscal year was writer Daisuke Noguchi. At the time of the exhibition, he was a student in the Department of Art Planning at Osaka University of Arts. He is currently working as a volunteer in Sumoto City.

"Me-ya-san" is a place where you can learn the importance of seeing and feeling, and "Te-ya-san" is a place where you can feel the warmth and communication that comes from touching.

With the theme of "Things you can't buy, but that are important," different shops opened each day, offering "important things" that we tend to forget in our daily lives.

Daisuke Noguchi

Born in Gifu Prefecture in 2003. Currently a fourth-year student in the Department of Art Planning at Osaka University of Arts. Engages in various activities, exhibitions, and projects centered around "events."
Exhibitions include: "20 National Art University Students Exhibition" (2023) at Art Sphere Nara; "The Day We Make Chairs" (2024) at Mototanabe Kaen (Osaka); "Chikatsu Asuka Project: Responding Artifacts - Pottery Defies Oblivion" at Osaka Prefectural Chikatsu Asuka Museum; and the artist-in-residence program "Ancient Capital Celebration Nara" at Naramachi Center, among others.

A total of four groups of artists used Craft Base as their stage, collaborating with islanders, various businesses, and materials to continuously create a creative experience.

Through their works and activities, artists and the city intersected, and people and people intersected. Each of these connections brought a new landscape to Sumoto this past year. This year, too, various encounters will be born from SBRICK. In 2025, various artists are already enlivening Craft Base. Please look forward to future developments.