SGW Lab is a ceramic studio which was founded
by an artist Yuta Segawa in 2018.
The mission of SGW Lab is to think about the significance of craftsmanship in the context of William Morris,
to believe in the worth of human labour and to explore and practice
the beautiful possibilities created by handicrafts.
Statement by YUTA SEGAWA - 2021
SGW Lab was founded in London in 2018 to expand the scale of my personal work production and to expand the possibilities of production. Currently, there are 6 full-time staff members, including myself. In order to work with others, even in a small group, it is necessary to explain various things that are sensuously grasped when produced by an individual artist. The most important of these is the significance of making things in the 21st century with less productive and inaccurate handwork than machines. It's difficult to explain this, even if I can feel it as an individual. William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement were a big hint for me to think about it.
SGW Lab has a slogan: "The Art of people". It is the title of a lecture that William Morris delivered in 1879 at the Birmingham Society of Arts and School of Design. Morris explained the importance of craftsmanship in the social situation in which the
Industrial Revolution was unfolding, with the phrase: "Art which is to be made by the people and for the people, as a happiness to the maker and the user." He led the Arts and Crafts movement, seeing art as an expression of pleasure in human labour.
In the 21st century, the significance of handicrafts has been greatly undermined by the development of the Internet, artificial intelligence (AI) and industrial machines. In this era, the significance of craftsmanship, in other words, the worth of human labour, is being questioned again. Thus, it makes sense to rethink Morris's idea: "Art which is to be made by the people and for the people, as a happiness to the maker and the user".
The mission of SGW LAB is to think about the significance of craftsmanship in the context of Morris, to believe in the worth of human labour and to explore and practice the beautiful possibilities created by handicrafts.
