実在 RealizedSomething to Protect
守るべきものA woven iron egg guarded by a single bird.
The Sculptor
A welder's hands, thirty years before a gallery ever saw them.
Ikeuchi trained in his family's ironworks on the island of Shikoku, twice placing in Kochi Prefecture's welding competitions long before he called himself an artist. In his late forties he turned that trade toward sculpture, and has exhibited every year since 2009 at Japan's most considered exhibitions.
Every piece shown here is still hand-forged in his own workshop in Kochi — nothing outsourced, nothing repeated by machine.
2009–Exhibiting nationally
6+National awards
2023First shown abroad
Concept to Reality
What is shown in light is later built in iron.
Every commission is first placed in a cinematic vision of its future site. These three have since left that vision and now stand, in weather, in the places they were dreamed for.
守るべきもの
Something to Protect
A woven iron egg the height of a person, with a single bird standing watch — installed at the head of a shrine's stone stairway.
Realized · Shrine precinct, Kochi ▶ Watch the film
問う
Keep Asking
A weathered mask raised on wire limbs, set at the tideline where every wave rewrites what surrounds it.
Realized · Pacific coast, Shikoku ▶ Watch the film
植物
Plant
Iron stems and seed-pods grown into a bamboo garden rather than placed against it, ageing the way the garden ages.
Realized · Garden, Kochi ▶ Watch the filmThe Collection
Six forms. Three already stand; three await your site.
Acquire a realized work as it stands, or commission a bespoke piece — already previsualized, scaled and forged to your address.
実在 Realized実在 RealizedKeep Asking
問うA weathered mask on wire limbs, at the tideline.
実在 RealizedPlant
植物Iron stems grown to stand among real bamboo.
受注 Bespoke
Fire
炎A folded flame of hammered steel for a tall space.
受注 Bespoke
White Egg
白卵A cracked, weathered egg opened onto warmth.
受注 Bespoke
Leaf Vessel
無題A wire-legged vessel cradling a hammered leaf.
Works in Iron
Shown in galleries, outdoors, and at the museum gate.
Photographs of finished works as they were exhibited and installed. Select any image to view it full size.
Flower & Stone
A wide rusted-iron bloom holding a single stone, carried on one wandering stem — with a pierced iron butterfly settling at its edge.
Rebar Tree
Hundreds of lengths of rebar twisted into a single trunk, opening into a crown above and roots below — wrapped in a band of orange steel.
Museum Monument
Coloured steel blades rising from a black steel core beside the museum's stone marker, reading clearly against the surrounding forest.
Functional Iron
Sculpture you can hang a coat on, sit on, or store things in.
The same hand-forged iron, made to be used every day. Each piece is built to order and can be sized and coloured for your space.
Tree Hanger
A natural log trunk sprouting coloured steel leaves that double as hooks. At home in a nursery entrance or a design-office reception.
Leaf Bench
A long, gently curving bench of cedar slats on many slender iron legs — a creature resting in the garden, with an iron head to match.
Garden Store
A slim cedar-clad store on a steel frame, with a forged iron flower in the window and a red lever handle.
Images marked “Placement image” show how a piece could look in a setting; they are not records of a delivered installation.
Placements
For the spaces that greet before they explain.
Residence & Lobby
The first object a resident's eyes meet — permanence, before the brochure is read.
Members' Club & Lounge
One object in a room built for conversation, placed to be asked about.
Hospitality & Hotel
Weatherproof for the entrance, refined enough for the lobby or bath-house approach.
Private Garden & Estate
Grown alongside planting, ageing the way the garden ages.
Process
From a first conversation to standing at your entrance.
一
Consultation
We review your site — light, sightlines, scale, and what it should say.
二
Previsualization
The piece is placed in a cinematic render of its future setting for approval.
三
Forging
Hand-built in Ikeuchi's Kochi workshop, using technique practiced since youth.
四
Installation
Delivered, installed, and weather-tested, with an ongoing care plan.
Recognition
A record judged by Japan's own juries.
Kochi Prefectural Art Exhibition — multiple awards, 2011–2020
Shinshoten — Osaka Governor's Award, 2018
Shinshoten — Honorable Mention & Holbein Award, 2014
APOC — Asia-Pacific Orchid Conference, 2023
Contact
Begin with your site.
Send the location and the space you have in mind. We reply with a first previsualization concept before anything is agreed.
- Studio
- IL Bussan Co., Ltd. (有限会社アイエル物産) — Iron sculptor Ikeuchi, Kochi, Japan
- Address
- 1073-2 Doi, Noichi-cho, Konan City, Kochi, Japan
- ilbussan@coral.ocn.ne.jp
- Telephone / Fax
- +81 887-54-0711 / +81 887-54-0712
- Full Portfolio
- iwatakuniyasu.wixsite.com/ikeuchi