What is going on with Japanese lacquer at the moment? There's this. There's the MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Ukiyo-e Edition [1]. The V&A opened an exhibition on it last weekend [2]. The Times had a puff piece on it a few months ago [3]. Is urushi suddenly cool? If so, why? Did the Urushi Marketing Board decide to have a big push, pull some strings, and now it's everywhere? I'm not complaining at all, just mildly puzzled.
As it happens, i saw the exhibition at the V&A today. It's decent, but small. Has a bunch of artefacts, and then some videos of some of the artists working, which are interesting.
Urushi has been going through a revival in fountain pen and watches (dials) the last five years. There is also more and more amateurs having access to urushi and learning it as a hobby.