Emi Shinmura is an Anglo-Japanese woodworker and designer. She studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and lives and works between the UK, Germany and Japan. Her work has been exhibited overseas, including at the Venice Biennale.

In 2019 Emi took up a half-year apprenticeship with her aunt Harumi, a well known master craftswoman in the mountains of Kyushu in Japan, where she was able to deepen her knowledge of traditional Japanese carpentry by building a bunkhouse. Emi returns each year for 3 months to work with her aunt in Kyushu, Japan. 

EXHIBITIONS

London Craft Week
London, UK
May 2026

...coming soon

Deutsches Design Museum
Berlin, DE
April 2026
‘SITZEN MACHEN!‘

Stockholm Creative Edition
Stockholm, SE
February 2026
‘Fisher Series’

Tormek Summer Exhibition
Lindesberg, SE 
June 2025
‘In Between Trees – Through Grind and Motion’

3 Days of Design 
Copenhagen, DK
June 2025
TADA Studio & Friends

The Rowley Gallery, Kensington, London, UK
March 2023
‘SEATS FOR DEITIES’

20Square7 Gallery
Berlin, DE
September 2022
‘MERGED’

Microscope Gallery, Dalston
London, UK
August 2022
‘HOUSED & MORTISED’

The Rowley Gallery
Kensington, London, UK
February 2020
‘KOKESHI’

Venice Biennale 
Italy
August 2012
Collateral Event: Traces of Centuries & Future Steps

PUBLICATIONS

‘Japanese Joinery in Practice’
A rare look at this historic art in today’s context   ︎︎︎
Fine Woodworking Magazine, print edition, No.292 USA
December 2021

‘Talento del Norte’
Interiores magazine, “Ideas y Tendencias,” print edition, No.287 SPAIN
March 2026

‘Review: In Between Trees’ ︎︎︎
The Nordic Nomad
August 2025

‘Our favourite products from 3 Days of Design 2025’  ︎︎︎
Dezeen
June 2025

TEACHING

University College London, London, UK
March 2025

Royal College of Arts, London, UK
March 2022

Stanford University, California, USA
October 2022