First day at Benrido Kyoto
Monday December 2nd; my first day at Benrido Atelier! The overseas manager Hideko Ono welcomed me and Rene and guided us through the building to meet everyone. To be able to experience the process of collotype and reproduction of precious museum pieces we had a great close up view. It is exceptional to experience that people have been working for Benrido Collotype for over 30 years and still tell about their profession with passion and determination. The whole atmosphere is warm and respectfull to everyone in the company.
In the coming days I will mainly work with Master Printer Osamu Yamamoto and his assistant Lee Jeewon. Mako Mizobuchi and Hideko Ono will support me where possible with translation and questions about how and why. It is still hard to believe that all these people work with my images. The emotions were quite strong when I entered Yamamoto-san’s own Atelier and looked at the large table completely covered with collotype test prints of my images.
It really is not a dream..... is it?!
all images during Benrido residency are made by Hideko Ono (manager Benrido Overseas devision) and me
