At age 35, Japanese-born Kazu Harada began making automata as a hobby. In 2006, he wrote to British automata maker Matt Smith asking if he could be his apprentice. Matt replied that the workshop was too small to have help, but that Harada could certainly visit. So Harada traveled to Falmouth, England, and proceeded to visit Matt every single day. His pursuit paid off—he not only met numerous artists, he got the chance to hone his techniques working as part of Matt’s Fourteen Balls Toy Company.