The transposition of the Skills Academy to Japan was overseen by Reiko Setsuda, curator of Le Forum, the Foundation’s exhibition space in Tokyo. As in France, each edition of the Academy centres on a universal material explored through practical workshops, talks, visits and the publication of a reference work. In 2021, an encyclopedic monograph accompanied the launch of the Academy in Japan, in the form of a Japanese edition of Savoir & Faire – Le bois that was published by Kodansha Sensho Metier Editions.

This book brings together a selection of texts translated from the French edition, alongside new articles by nine Japanese authors. While the publication draws on a distinctly French encyclopedic format, the Japanese edition of the programme itself initially differed from the European original in that it addressed first and foremost a young audience through a pedagogical model that marked a break with the local, academic approach. Subsequent editions integrated other age groups, taking on an intergenerational dimension.

The programme took place over two key stages. In the spring of 2022, the first workshop, over several sessions, invited participants to engage with wood from a number of angles – sculptural or musical properties, multisensory approaches, the tradition of bonsai, etc. – and included in-situ sessions in forests. The programme reflected the essential role of wood in Japan’s everyday life and art of living.

In the autumn of 2022, a second workshop invited participants to work with wood at the Geidai University of Arts in Tokyo. Two roundtables open to the public at the Institut Français in Tokyo provided French and Japanese designers with an opportunity to compare their practices in design and the use of wood in music. This double thematic framework produced fruitful and pertinent exchanges that confirmed the rich seam of knowledge that can emerge from a comparative Franco-Japanese perspective.