Kuroda Tatsuaki - Ornamental box in a flowing design, lacquer on wood using red lacquer (sekishitsu), 1957. On loan from the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

Gorgeous kimonos, prized lacquer ware and radiant ceramics all feature among other remarkably beautiful examples of Japanese crafts in a new exhibition at the British Museum.

Crafting Beauty in Modern Japan, running until October 21 2007, celebrates some of the best works from the last 50 years of the annual Japan Traditional Art Crafts Exhibition.

Respect for crafts and the materials and techniques used to make the objects is so embedded in Japanese culture that many of the artists represented in the exhibition have been designated by the Japanese government as ‘Living National Treasures’. The annual exhibition showing off the cream of the country’s crafts began in 1954.

Crafting Beauty looks at five chief mediums: ceramics, textiles, lacquer, metal, wood and bamboo, and also other crafts such as glass and dolls.

Matsubara Yoshichi - Kimono, 'Melody' (Senritsu), indigo stencil dyeing on silk, 1968. On loan from the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

Ceramics are an ancient artform in Japan, with a history that can be traced back more than 16,000 years. On show in the exhibition are pieces that demonstrate deep connections to local traditions, ranging from a highly refined porcelain bowl with vivid, glass-like glazes by Tokuda Yasokichi III, to a rugged rectangular stoneware plate in black Bizen style by Isezaki Jun.

The most prized kimonos are a form of wearable art. On show in Crafting Beauty are a modern adaptation of indigo stencil dyeing with fans scattered across the garment (by Matsubara Yoshichi), and a woven silk kimono by Murakami Ryoko called ‘Path Leading into the Woods’.

Time consuming and technically difficult, lacquer work is one of the most iconic crafts in East Asia. It is also another ancient craft - a piece of lacquerware recently discovered in Japan has been dated to possibly 7,000 BC.

A red lacquer box by Kuroda Tatsuaki provides an unusual and compelling example of the technique, featuring a ridged, flowing surface design.

Tokuda Yasokichi III - Bowl, 'Genesis' (Sosei), porcelain with vivid coloured glazes (yôsai), 1991. On loan from the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

Metalwork is undergoing a resurgence of interest in Japan, and is the medium for some of the most daring decorative arts in the country today. Osumi Yukie’s vase Sea Breeze is crafted from hammered silver and another vase by Nakagawa Mamoru has an inlaid striped design in copper and silver alloy.

A basket entitled Shallow Stream, by Katsushiro Soho, provides an exquisite and functional example of crafts using bamboo, which together with wood is one of the most venerated materials in Japan. Wood is laboriously polished, burned and inlaid by craftspeople to produce incredibly aesthetic pieces, as demonstrated by Nakagawa Kiyotsugu’s square box, inlaid with cedar wood in a complex mosaic.

The exhibition concludes with glass making and dolls – the latter of which have their own festival dedicated to them, while glass making is not as well recognised in Japan. Perhaps it will join the revered league of the other Japanese crafts in the future.