IN A CLASS OF THEIR OWN

Hisa Kato

BY KATACHA DIAZ WITH MAYUMI SAITO
PHOTOGRAPHY BY BILL SIMONE

JAPANESE ARTIST HISA KATO’S POWERFULLY PRIMITIVE SOFT SCULPTURE REDEFINES THE TEDDY BEAR.

ARTIST HISA KATO FROM TOKYO, JAPAN, MADE HER DEBUT INTO THE WORLD OF BEAR MAKING 13 YEARS AGO. IT WAS QUITE BY ACCIDENT. “I DIDN’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT TEDDY BEARS WHEN I SAW THEM AS A CHILD FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 1985,” SHE SAYS. “BUT I WAS A PRECOCIOUS YOUNG ARTIST CREATING OBJETS D’ART, AND I WAS SO INSPIRED BY THE TEDDIES THAT I DECIDED TO DESIGN AND MAKE MY FIRST BEAR.

“I DIDN’T KNOW WHAT A PAPER PATTERN WAS,” Hisa continues, “so I proceeded to draw my design directly onto the yellow felt fabric. I cut all the pieces out, hand-stitched them, and used cotton for stuffing. And believe me, it wasn’t easy to stuff a 2-inch, thread-jointed bear. In fact, I ended up using a toothpick to stuff the cotton into the bear’s tiny limbs, and it took a long time. Today he is old and worn, but his arms, legs, and neck still move pretty well, and he’s very special.”

Hisa pours an enormous amount of enthusiasm and hard work into creating her teddy bears and other artwork. She is an accomplished painter, designs and makes fine jewelry, and works with clay. But her passion these days is designing and making unusual teddy bears and other furry creatures.

Her bear-making philosophy is quite simple: “Just do what you love and the rest will follow.” But the reality of creating her artwork is more challenging, Hisa admits. She explains that it takes an unusual mix of secret techniques, a great deal of experimentation, and long hours to produce a look that is both primitive and old. For example, she recently experimented with using hard sponges and vinyl chloride to make teeth for one of her bears, and was extremely pleased with the results.

“Each bear is a real challenge because I’m trying to capture a certain look,” she says, “and I start from scratch every time. Sometimes I spend hours sculpting the nose, or several days to dye and treat the fabric to achieve the desired look. In fact, I spend so much time working on each bear that I have a special connection with every one of them.”“I DIDN’T KNOW WHAT A PAPER PATTERN WAS,” Hisa continues, “so I proceeded to draw my design directly onto the yellow felt fabric. I cut all the pieces out, hand-stitched them, and used cotton for stuffing. And believe me, it wasn’t easy to stuff a 2-inch, thread-jointed bear. In fact, I ended up using a toothpick to stuff the cotton into the bear’s tiny limbs, and it took a long time. Today he is old and worn, but his arms, legs, and neck still move pretty well, and he’s very special.”

Hisa pours an enormous amount of enthusiasm and hard work into creating her teddy bears and other artwork. She is an accomplished painter, designs and makes fine jewelry, and works with clay. But her passion these days is designing and making unusual teddy bears and other furry creatures.

Her bear-making philosophy is quite simple: “Just do what you love and the rest will follow.” But the reality of creating her artwork is more challenging, Hisa admits. She explains that it takes an unusual mix of secret techniques, a great deal of experimentation, and long hours to produce a look that is both primitive and old. For example, she recently experimented with using hard sponges and vinyl chloride to make teeth for one of her bears, and was extremely pleased with the results.

“Each bear is a real challenge because I’m trying to capture a certain look,” she says, “and I start from scratch every time. Sometimes I spend hours sculpting the nose, or several days to dye and treat the fabric to achieve the desired look. In fact, I spend so much time working on each bear that I have a special connection with every one of them.”

Take, for example, Vesta, a limited edition Hisa created for Teddy Bears of Witney in Oxfordshire, England. Hisa cropped the fabric almost bare, then spent several days dyeing and treating the fabric to give it a very old, tattered, antique look.

“I first met Hisa Kato at the second Japan Teddy Bear Convention in Tokyo in 1994,” says Ian Pout, owner of Teddy Bears of Witney. “I was impressed by the originality of her bears. Their designs were unconventional and challenging—particularly then. I recognized the time and hard work that had been dedicated to a look which might seem crude and primitive to some but which, to me, had the quality of principled artistic purity. Whilst Hisa’s bears, by their nature, appeal to a minority, we have noticed that collectors have become increasingly appreciative of her work, especially during the last year.”

Inspiration for her creations, Hisa says, comes from reading children’s picture books and the interesting things she observes during the course of the day. “Sometimes I cannot go to sleep at night because I’m so excited by all the things I’ve seen during the day. These days, one of my favorite places for ideas is the local builders’ supply store, especially where they sell all those parts used for construction and drainage systems.”

Too, she is always on the lookout for “different” props to use with her creations. For example, last December she found a child’s portable potty chair and used it to display a teddy bear at a private gallery show featuring her work. “It’s fun to be creative and use something very different, and then watch people’s reactions,” she says.

Hisa’s bears range in size from 2 to 31 inches, and most are one-of-a-kind. They are largely made from English or German mohair, but Hisa also uses other imported fabrics, such as rayon seal and velvet. Sometimes she’ll make small limited editions for a festival, as shop exclusives, or for her fan club, which a group of Japanese collectors started a few years ago. The bears range in price from 18,000 yen (about $144 U.S.) to over 450,000 yen ($3600 U.S.).

In 1995 Hisa exhibited her teddy bears for the first time at an art gallery, and the exhibition was a huge success. That year she also entered and won the Japan Teddy Bear Association contest. “I had never entered any other contest except for this one, and I was very surprised to learn I’d won the best new teddy bear artist award! My piece was very complicated and the materials I used were most unusual, so I wondered if people would even like my bear.”

Since then Hisa has exhibited her bears and other furry creatures at shows and several art galleries, including a recent solo exhibition at Gallery Amelia in Tokyo. Hisa says she enjoys participating in these events and meeting collectors and other artists.

Last year Hisa was invited to create a special bear to exhibit at Teddy Bear Kingdom in Nagasaki. Her creation for the museum, she says, was inspired by the 1915 Master Teddy manufactured by Chiltern Toy Works of England. Hisa’s Master Teddy is 17 inches tall, one-of-a-kind, and fully jointed. He is made from dyed mohair and has velvet pads. His large, googly, ceramic eyes are typical of the period, and they were hand-crafted by the artist. The bear also has a tilt growler. Master Teddy is on display among other treasures at Teddy Bear Kingdom and will be auctioned off later this year.

What sets Hisa’s work apart—and makes it especially attractive to collectors—are the artist’s originality, meticulous craftsmanship, innovative use of traditional materials, and her secret process. Hisa’s eye-catching, primitive designs challenge convention and are in a class of their own.

For more information about Hisa Kato’s bears, please contact the following shops:

Teddy Bears of Witney, 99 High St., Witney, Oxfordshire, OX8 6LY, England; 011/44/1993 702616; fax 011/44/1993 702344.

Cuddly Brown, 4-5 Sarugakucho, Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan 150-0033; tel./fax 011/81/3 3477 7178.

Table On, TMS Building, 2-7-6 Tukagoshi, Warabi City, Saitama, Japan 335-0002; tel./fax 011/81/48 431 5005.

Lifeshop Marjoram, 1-9-7 Nakamachi, Sakata City, Yamagata, Japan 998-0044; tel./fax 011/81/234 26 7687.

Izu Teddy Bear Museum, 1064-2 Yahatano, Ito City, Shizuoka, Japan 413-0232.