綿花畑を整えて、山の木々を整えて、一緒に働いている人たちに必要な道具や衣服を整える。そういう何でもない日々の積み重ねの先に人が集まり、その関わりが増えていくほどに、物を作ることだけが「つくる」ことではないんだなと感じてしまう…それを体感している今だから 芸術家Joseph Beuys が唱えていた、作品だけを芸術とするのではなく、人が考えたり、話したり、働いたり、誰かと関わったりする事も含めた営みそのものを芸術と捉える「社会彫刻（Social Sculpture）」という考えが身に染みる。
アート、工芸、民藝、ファッションと、色々なものが以前より広く沢山の人の元へと届くようになったと思いますが、届く量や速度が増えた分、ひとつのものについて立ち止まったり、考えようとする時間は少しずつ短くなっていて、物そのものの技術や完成度、伝統や文脈、素材の成り立ちや価値なんかも大事なことなのだけれどもそればかりでは手に入れても手に入れても、どこか満たされない…

何を持つかと同じくらい、どう生きるか。
誰と何と関わって、どちらへ進んでいきたいのか。

そういうことまで全部つながった先に物が出来て、それが誰かのところへ届いた時に少し気持ちが動いたり、何かを考えるきっかけになったり、いつもの行動が少し変わったりする。そんな小さな変化の声が物の届いた先から木霊のように返ってきた時に、ようやく私達は「つくる」ことが出来たと思います。

東出結城 / サリゲナク

Preparing cotton fields, tending to the trees in the mountains, and making sure that the people we work alongside have the tools and clothing they need. Through the accumulation of these seemingly ordinary, everyday tasks, people come together, and as those relationships grow, I find myself realizing that making is about much more than producing objects.

Experiencing this firsthand has brought home to me the idea of “Social Sculpture,” proposed by the artist Joseph Beuys. Rather than defining art solely as a finished work, Beuys understood art as encompassing the entirety of human activity: thinking, talking, working, and engaging with others.

Art, craft, mingei, and fashion now reach a wider range of people than ever before. Yet as the volume and speed of this exchange have increased, the time we spend pausing to consider a single object seems to have gradually diminished. The techniques and craftsmanship behind an object, its level of refinement, its traditions and context, and the origins and value of its materials are all important. But if we focus only on these aspects, something still feels missing, no matter how much we acquire.

How we live matters as much as what we own.

Who and what do we choose to engage with? In which direction do we want to move forward?

An object comes into being at the intersection of all these questions. When it reaches someone, it may stir a feeling, prompt a new thought, or bring about a small change in their everyday actions. Only when these small changes echo back to us from the places our work has reached, like a distant reverberation, do I feel that we have truly made something.

Yuki Higashide / Sarigenaku