NeuCraft2024 / CTC
Co-creation with AI: Crafting New Designs While Preserving Tradition — Developing Tools For Design Creation
2025
NeuCraft is a collaborative project that leverages AI in traditional Japanese crafts. Developed in collaboration with ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (CTC) and Hosai Matsubayashi, the 16th generation head of the Asahiyaki pottery kiln from Uji, Kyoto. This project builds on the initial "NeuCraft" initiative launched in 2022, aiming to augment human creativity by combining AI technology with traditional craftsmanship.
In this project, we used an image generation AI model that had been trained on a wide variety of images as a foundation. We then fine-tuned the model using additional images of Asahiyaki works that we previously shot in the first iteration of the project, enabling it to express the unique style characteristic of Asahiyaki pottery. We also helped developing a design tool to help artists make full use of the AI model. As a result, by leveraging this custom dataset, the system provides a diverse source of inspiration while preserving the traditional aesthetics of Asahiyaki, thus enabling the artist to create entirely new designs that were previously unimaginable.
Rather than relying on a one-way process where the AI simply generates images from prompts, this project embraces a collaborative approach in which the artist actively engages with the AI by specifying shapes, refining outputs, and feeding generated images back into the creative loop. This interactive system fosters a dynamic relationship between the artisan and the AI. By combining the aesthetic sensibilities of Asahiyaki, honed over centuries, with the AI’s capacity to offer fresh perspectives, the collaboration opens up new possibilities for creating designs that have never been seen before.
Works created using this tool were exhibited at ICHI-ZA KYOTO in the Kyoto Zone of the Kansai Pavilion at Expo 2025, Osaka, Kansai, Japan.
Links
- NeuCraft
Exhibition
May 12 - May 18, 2025 | ICHI-ZA KYOTO in the Kyoto Zone of the Kansai Pavilion at Expo 2025, Osaka, Kansai, Japan
Credits
Software Engineering: Keito Takaishi（Qosmo）, Bogdan Teleaga（Qosmo）, Ryosuke Nakajima（Qosmo）