Exercising pigs, egg-laying duck decoys and spinning radishes are just some of the delightful automata to come out of Japanese artist and woodworker Kazuaki Harada‘s workshop. Lo-fi yet entertaining, an automaton is a self-operating device that animates when cranked by hand, a concept born from mechanical engineering, gears, pneumatics and hydraulics.
Harada learned the craft under the English automata maker Matt Smith, and afterwards took to his Yamaguchi studio to create his own mechanical sculptures. His automata are range from small, silly ones…
“I Laugh Out Loud”
“Decoy”:
“Hamlet on the Cutting Board”:
“Exercise”:
…to big, complex pieces that don’t fail to impress, like “Mechanism of Love”, an automaton that stamps messages on a sheet of paper:
And “Air Sculpture”, which produces a perfect bubble:
You can check out Harada’s Youtube channel to see more of his works in action, and his online shop if you want to get one for yourself.