Born in 1987 Tochigi Prefecture, Japan, Haruka SOTOME 五月女晴佳 completed her Master's Degree in Art and Culture, majoring in Craft, at Northeastern University of Art and Culture in 2014.  In 2020, she pursued further study at the Kanazawa Utatsuyama Craft Studio. She received the Kanazawa Mayor’s Most Excellent Award at the 78th Kanazawa City Craft Exhibition in 2022.   In the same year, she won the Kanazawa Utatsuyama Craftsmanship Award. In 2023, her artwork “Melt” has been selected by Tokyo Mode Gakuen College of Fashion & Design in Japan as the key visual of its brand identity.

 

SOTOME’s works are vibrant in colours and glamorous. She deliberately using or sometimes  exacerbating stereotypical female's objects as the subject of her creations. Her forms usually appear bold and exaggerate to imply the empowerment of females. The "Perfume Bottle" series embodies this concept. SOTOME feels that wearing perfume is like putting on the armour to protect a female and  making her feel secured.  The "perfume bottle” is made of "natural lacquer", a sap that has been regarded as warding off evil spirits since ancient times which she sees as a powerful medium.