Craft Next Door: Curating a Taiwan-Japan International Craft Exchange Exhibition

Challenge

Craft is often seen as fine art locked behind museum glass, distant from everyday life. NTCRI wanted to challenge that image and position craft as a driver of local revitalization. The challenge was curating a Taiwan-Japan exchange exhibition that showcased the refined skill of dozens of craftspeople from both countries while keeping the warmth and approachability of craft rooted in daily life.

Goal

Under the theme "The Craftsman Next Door," the exhibition needed a key visual that conveyed genuine warmth and exchange, and a layout where works from two different cultural backgrounds could sit in dialogue with each other, giving concrete form to how craft drives local revitalization.

Approach

1. Built the key visual around the concept of "The Craftsman Next Door," capturing the everyday warmth of craft rooted in daily life and setting the tone for the whole exhibition.
2. Interlaced the exhibition route so that works from Taiwan and Japan sat side by side, letting pieces from both places speak to each other and revealing the shared warmth in Taiwanese and Japanese craft.
3. Focused the exhibition text on each craftsperson's relationship with their community, foregrounding the real connection between craft and local revitalization rather than simply displaying objects.

Outcome

The Taiwan-Japan exchange exhibition "The Craftsman Next Door" was successfully staged, with works from both countries in genuine dialogue within the same space. It gave craft-driven local revitalization a concrete, visible showcase and built practical experience in cross-border exhibition curation for the team.