Hikoju Makie: Japanese Lacquer and Australian Connections

Noboru Takemoto 武本　登

Born in Osaka in 1991. After graduating from the University of Tokyo in 2014, he worked for nearly eight years at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, engaging in energy policy and the reconstruction of Fukushima. He is driven by a passion to pass on a prosperous Japan to the next generation.

He earned a master’s degree at Columbia University and subsequently joined McKinsey & Company, where he supported management strategy and new business development, primarily for clients in the manufacturing sector. In 2024, he joined the Yamauchi family, the founding family of Nintendo. With the mission of revitalising and updating Japan’s traditional crafts, he was appointed Executive Vice President and Director of HIKOJU MAKIE-DO Co., Ltd. in 2025, as part of the Yamauchi family’s support for the company.

Robert Davies

Robert Davies (b. 1956, Townsville) grew up in the mining towns of Mt Isa and Tennant Creek, developing an early fascination with the colours and patterns of rocks. In 1967, a seven-month journey around the world with his parents sparked a lifelong interest in how people live and create. After working in the underground coal industry and studying geology at the University of Newcastle, Davies discovered pottery in 1980 during a visit to the Sturt Workshops in Mittagong.

A pivotal moment came in 1985 when he encountered a tea bowl, whilst visiting a museum in San Francisco, recognising its special provenance. This inspired decades of visiting potters, collecting local clays and rocks, and establishing kilns in Blackheath (1993), Wallerawang (2000), and Newcastle (2004). His deep connection to Japanese ceramics began with a visit to Kyushu in 2005, and since has travelled to Karatsu over 25 times.

Davies began studying Tea in 2007, building his first tearoom, Roan, in 2012, followed by Kuan in 2021. He also explored kintsugi in Nara, integrating concepts, symbols, and philosophies into his practice. In 2025, he achieved Chamei in the Ura Senke tradition and joined the Sydney Association Board, continuing his lifelong pursuit of craft, tea culture, and cross-cultural exchange.

Bic Tieu

Bic Tieu is a designer, object maker, and jeweller, who lectures at the University of NSW, School of Art and Design. Her practice draws on traditional and contemporary craft and design methods inspired by her Asian-cultural lineages to investigate themes of personal and cross-cultural narratives. Specialising in traditional and contemporary metal and lacquer craft technologies, Bic’s practice often utilises a synthesis of these materials to create different perspectives on contemporary object-making and meanings. Her recent work navigates cartographic ways to explore the ‘in-between’, creating new kinds of cultural objects that are representative of the hybrid and diasporic life experiences and identities represented in the diverse cultures of Australia. Bic’s practice revels in materiality expressed in object-based forms to create a better understanding of cultural diversity within the Asia-Australia context.