Art Touch Kazuko Furuta Letterpress Postcards / TOUCH & FLOW

• Size: H148 × W100mm (standard postal size)
• Body weight: 5g
• Weight including package: 6g
• Print technique: Letterpress printing

Kazuko Furuta was born in Tokyo in 1985 and completed her graduate studies in Japanese painting at Tohoku University of Art and Design in 2015. She relocated to Yamagata for university and has continued working at the foot of Nishi-Zao ever since. Her practice is rooted in traditional nihonga technique while pursuing a distinct personal vision, and she has participated in land-based art projects such as Hijiorinotomohi in Oishida, Yamagata, and Tsuchimatsuri in Mashiko, Tochigi. In 2017 she received the 5th Setagaya Art Award. More recently she has created artwork for musician Sakura Fujiwara and taken on mural and furniture commissions.

For this postcard series, TOUCH & FLOW chose letterpress printing specifically to carry the delicacy of Furuta's paintings into a card format. The press used is more than 50 years old and still operated at TOUCH & FLOW's own factory in Nagareyama, Chiba. Because each card is run individually through the press, no two are identical in the depth of impression, and the characteristic surface texture, slightly raised where ink sits and gently debossed from the pressure, remains present on every piece.