Yoku Moku is best known in Japan as the company that produces those irresistible cylindrical buttery cigare cookies that come in a dark blue tin, but in 2020, the biscuit company made an interesting foray into fine art. Yoku Moku director Toshiyasu Fujinawa, who is the grandson of the company founder, is an avid art collector and has accumulated more than 500 of Pablo Picasso's ceramic works over the course of 30 years. Until recently, the collection was passed around different exhibition spaces, but in 2020, Yoku Moku unveiled a brand new museum in Aoyama where the collection is now on display permanently.
Picasso is best known for the paintings he created as a pioneer of the cubist movement, but the Spanish artist also had a talent for ceramic work among other art forms. Picasso is thought to have created nearly 3,000 ceramic pieces in his career, but many of his works have been dispersed among different art collectors in the decades since his death, making this one of the largest collections of Picasso ceramics.
Located near the Yoku Moku flagship store in Aoyama, the Yoku Moku Museum is as much about education as art. There are art workshops for young children to develop their creativity as well as a series of scheduled lectures for visitors to learn more about the artist and his work. The museum even features a library as well as a café – named after the town of Valoris where Picasso produced numerous ceramic works – serving freshly baked sweets.