What is GO ON? Its attitudes are always focused, never blurred, but it is still dificult to encapsulate what they do in a few words. GO ON poses important questions actively embracing a wide range of interests. As I write, I’m sure they are discussing how to make further progress.

GO ON was launched in 2012 by successors to traditional Kyoto craft groups. Its members inherited companies with long histories, and all six are devoted to pursuing their own area of creativity. At the same time, they formed the project unit GO ON to serve as a platform, or rather environment, from which to generate flexible, liberated ideas. Several proactive projects have been completed so far.

GO ON is, so to speak, organic. Actions are carried out in the spiritual mindset of the artisan, using physical motions of hand and body, but also exuding an energy that pushes out from prior frameworks. They continue with the world of traditional craft technique and spirit, projecting its influence into new realms.

Connecting craft with art, design, science and technology, GO ON crosses various genres to generate new creative expressions, and its work has been applauded both inside and outside craft worlds. The materials, techniques, and processes of crafts

are inherited over the long course of history, but GO ON brings these into contact with cutting edge technology, leading to previously unthought of creative insights.

It is important to note that GO ON does not just expand the purview of craft. Its members also search for contemporary creative possibilities beyond that framework. Their method is to question assumptions at the core of tradition.

Interestingly, ideas obtained from these explorations are then returned to thfield of craft practice and creation. GO ON members once said, ‘We wish to stand outside the traditional realm of craft, treading ground in areas not normally considered to be craft’s mainstream. We never stop questioning.’

GO ON is nothing if not a search for the future, for a new thinking, and for its realisation. It is a challenge posed by six people who explore foundations to support creative activity, investigating the value and process of object-making, and the meaning and richness of life.

Text: Noriko Kawakami, DESIGN JOURNALIST