Yui Shakunaga

Born in 1981 into an Ecchu-Seto pottery family in Tateyama, Toyama Prefecture. Her father is the potter Yukio Shakunaga, her elder sister Yo Shakunaga, her elder brother Gaku Shakunaga. Raised in a house of ceramics, she took the path of metal herself.

In 2002 she graduated in metalwork from the Department of Industrial Design, Takaoka National College (now the Faculty of Art and Design, University of Toyama). In 2004 she completed the advanced course in industrial design at the same college.

From 2004 to 2013 she worked in the model-making section of Mikimoto Jewelry, learning metal chasing and model making under Kunihiko Akiba, later honored as a Contemporary Master Craftsman. She left the company in 2013 to begin working in Kanazawa, and in 2016 completed her traineeship at the Kanazawa Utatsuyama Craft Workshop.

Her studio is now in Tateyama, in a converted building on the site of her great-grandfather's roof-tile factory. There she raises sheet metal by hammering it into vessels, flower vessels, tea utensils and reliefs. Her work is installed at The Ritz-Carlton, Tokyo and at The Pavilions Niseko.