太田 憲
1979年 山形県生まれ。
手仕事への興味、ものづくりを生業にすることへの憧れから、職業訓練校でモノづくりの基礎を学ぶ。日本の伝統的工芸品に深い興味を持ち、小田原箱根寄木細工と出会う。江戸時代から伝える日本で唯一の寄木細工の産地であることから、神奈川県小田原箱根地方で、その独特の技術を学びたいと思うようになる。
2003年 箱根寄木細工製造元(有)木路入社。
妻、娘と共に小田原での暮らしを始める。8年間修行させていただく。
2012年 OTA MOKKO設立。
神奈川県小田原市早川の狭小工房にて寄木細工の制作を始める。
工房の隣に直売所をオープン。
2015年 秋 工房と店舗を小田原市板橋へ移転。
2022年 秋 工房と店舗を、小田原市の前身である大窪村の村役場として昭和3年に建てられた旧大窪支所へ移転。
KEN OTA
Ota was born in Yamagata Prefecture in 1979. His keen interest in handicraft and desire to build a successful career as an artisan brought him to a vocational school, where he learned the fundamentals of craftsmanship. Particularly fascinated by traditional Japanese crafts, an encounter with marquetry known as Odawara-Hakone yosegi zaiku inspired him to learn the craft in Kanagawa Prefecture’s Odawara/Hakone region—the only place in Japan where yosegi zaiku, whose history dates back to the Edo Period (1603 – 1868), is produced.
In 2003, Ota joined Kiro Co., Ltd., a Hakone yosegi zaiku manufacturer.
He moved to Odawara together with his wife and daughter, and honed his skills there for eight years.
In 2012, he founded Ota Mokko.
He started producing marquetry items in a small studio in Hayakawa, Odawara.
He also opened a shop next to the studio to sell his work.
In the fall of 2015, he relocated his studio and shop to Itabashi, Odawara.
He maintained the vestiges of the small former factory to which his studio and shop were relocated.