３月７日（木曜日）２０１９
あっという間に３月の一週間が過ぎてしまいました。梅の花があちこちで咲いています。 定休日の今日、お昼に自転車で外へ出て、帰って来たら家の前に男性二人。 誰かと思ったら石倉さんご兄弟でした。カフェは休みでしたが家に入っていただきお茶をお出ししたら 楽しいおしゃべりが始まりました。石倉創（はじめ）さん、康夫さんのご兄弟は京都の方ですが「鍛 フォージ・ワークス」http://tan-forge.com/という鉄の工房を東近江市のことう
ヘムスロイド村にお持ちで４０年近く創作活動をなさっています。 ヘムスロイドとはスウェーデン語で「手工芸」を意味する言葉だそうで、スウェーデンと 交流のあった旧湖東町の自然に囲まれた地に５つの工房をもつことうヘムスロイド村が作られて以来、様々な創作活動が なされて５月の杜（もり）まつりには２日間で２万人もの人で大変賑わうそうです。石倉さんたちとは 一昨年の「つなぐ通信http://tsunagu-t.com/pc/backnumber/vol16/index.html#page=1」が縁で友人を通して知り合いました。木工作家はよくいらっしゃいますが、鉄の作家 というのは珍しいなと思って聞いていると、若い時のご苦労、ユニークな人たちとの出逢い、ラッキー だったと謙虚におっしゃりながらユーモアたっぷりにお話になるその奥に石倉さんたちの独自の着眼点と 作品創りに向かう熱意が伝わってきました。東京や大阪などは勿論ニューヨークやドイツ、イタリアなどあちこちでの 仕事や展示会の話し、交流をお持ちの人達の話しなどスケールが広がり楽しい時間でした。The first week of March has passed quickly. We can see white and red flowers of plum trees everywhere. Today is a regular closing day and when I went out and came back home by bicycle just after noon, I saw two males in front of my house. They were Ishikura brothers. I invited them to my home and served tea, then they started talking enthusiastically. Hajime and Yasuo Ishikura are iron artists who own their studio "Tan Forge Works"http://tan-forge.com/ at Koto Hemslojd village in Higashi-ohmi. They said that they have been working on iron for nearly forty years. "Hemslojd" is the Swedish word for "crafts" and Koto Hemslojd Village which has five art studios was made in Higashi Ohmi (old Koto-cho) commemorating the friendship of sister cities between Sweden and Koto-cho. Every year they have an art festival for two days in May at Koto Hemslojd Village and around 20,000 people come to the festival. I knew them through the people of the free magazine "Tsunagu Tsushin http://tsunagu-t.com/pc/backnumber/vol16/index.html#page=1" . It is the first time for me to meet iron artists and I was very curious about what they were talking. They talked about heavy work while they were young, encounters with unique people who changed their lives, etc. They said humbly that they were lucky, and talked about everything humorously, but they had an original point of view and passion for their work which made me feel stimulated. They are working and meeting people in Tokyo, Osaka as well as in New York, Germany and Italy. It was a nice and enjoyable talk with individuals who are actively involved in projects across the world.
