CITIZEN & KOGEI ARTISTS
Japan's traditional crafts face a serious challenge today: a shortage of successors. With the question of whether this culture can be passed on 100 years from now at a critical turning point, CITIZEN has launched a project to support young craftspeople in their endeavors.
Having inherited and updated techniques over more than 100 years of history, CITIZEN believes it has a role to play in supporting traditional crafts as a whole — not just through material contributions. Not preserving traditional techniques as relics, but updating them with the sensibility of Generation Z. We believe that is the key to determining the fate of traditional crafts a century from now.
Concept
01
Traditional crafts are born from the land, climate, and daily life of a place — they are a region's very identity. When a single artist's hands fall still, the culture held within can vanish too. KOGEI ARTIST works alongside young artists to carry forward not just technique, but the stories and spirit behind it, into the next 100 years.
02
However exceptional a craft may be, it cannot endure without people who discover it, choose it, and welcome it into daily life. Alongside supporting young artists, KOGEI ARTIST works to cultivate wider respect for traditional crafts and art across society. Expanding the circle of both makers and those who embrace their work lays the foundation for the next 100 years.
03
For more than 100 years, CITIZEN has honed its craft through watchmaking, continually renewing its techniques with the times. That experience gives us a distinct role to play: supporting the next generation of makers and creating the conditions where new expression can emerge. KOGEI ARTIST is one of CITIZEN's challenges on the way to its next 100 years.
Support
CITIZEN supports the challenges of artists shaping the future of traditional crafts in the following ways.
Criteria
The following criteria are valued in selecting artists.
Process
The selection proceeds through the following steps.
STEP 01
Based on the selection criteria, CITIZEN and Ms. Yoshiko Ikoma select four artists.
STEP 02
The works are exhibited at the CITIZEN headquarters museum. During the exhibition, the artists' names are withheld and only the works are shown.
STEP 03
Through an employee vote, one winner is selected and becomes the recipient of the project's support.
※A detailed schedule will be announced at a later date.
Team
Meet the Special Supporter and President & CEO of CITIZEN WATCH who support the Gen Z KOGEI ARTIST Support Project.
Special Supporter
Fashion journalist and producer of HIRUME. After working at VOGUE and ELLE, she became editor-in-chief of the Japanese edition of Marie Claire in 2004. Since 2010, she has worked on the development of traditional crafts and local industries; for this project, she leads artist selection and curation.
President & CEO
Joined CITIZEN WATCH in 1986. After roles in Singapore, corporate planning, product development and the watch business, he became President and CEO in April 2025. He supports this project with a commitment to passing manufacturing skills and craftsmanship on to the next generation.
Support
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