During November 2017 I was working in Tokoname side by side with japanese potter Hidemi Kataoka. Hidemi San showed me various techniques and tools, some of them familiar, some of them totally new. I realized that some things you cant learn by...
Hidemi Kataoka / Shuuhou / Shuho picking out his latest batch from the small gas kiln.
Both me and Hidemi is some of a sweet tooth so twice a day we sit down to have coffee and a sweet japanese cake between working hours and talk pots. Often it comes to sign language...
Listening to Bon-Sai when he talks about his unique approach to bonsai pottery.
Standing on the street and peeking through the skylight window in to Bon-sai’s gallery is like looking at a painting. I can not help thinking about that the shoes, the nonchalant hangin...
He is noticeably surprised when he opens the door and see me standing there. Then Mike comes around the corner, since he had to park the car, and Bigei’s face opens up in a big smile. ”This is the guy from...
Juko is silent and puzzling. I met him for the first time when there was a ”sake night” at the local restaurant. Juko, Hidemi and Eimei were celebrating the opening of the new exhibition they hold together at a gallery in town. Just like their father...
An old man is standing smiling in the door and greets me when I arrive. He gently guides me through the gallery and shows me in to the office. He immediately start to ask me out. What kind of pots do the customers in Europe like? Why do they want...
Ikko belongs to one of the Tokoname potters who have decided to remove his range from the Tokoname catalog. He has cut himself free and found his own market, which he supplies with primarily unglazed, polished shohin pots. His name is well reg...
It's hard to interview Eimei without quickly getting into talking about his father. Eimei has managed to make a name for himself on the Japanese market and has received prestigious awards. And that is a even bigger achivement considering when y...
Up on a loft at Shuuhous studio we found a few pieces of broken plaster that turned out to be a 150 year old mold of a sourcherer riding a dragon among beautifully carved clouds. The quality was outstanding and I wonder if that Is anyone living today that could make a...
From 1900-1950 Tokoname ceramic industry had a boom. During this era there was hundreds of kilns beeing built and their chimneys dotted the city landscape, and their smoke made the whole town so black that it was said that even the birds of Tokoname where coloured from...
