Inside the Studio of Japanese Potter Takeryo Kawaguchi

Today I’ve come across another special little feature that really grabbed my attention, it’s an inside look at the studio of Japanese potter Takeryo Kawaguchi. He makes some incredible pieces like bowls, cups and tea pots so it’s great to see the process and the environment that he creates in. He was born in Arita-cho, Saga Prefecture in 1974 and is actually quite new to pottery in terms of having exhibitions and getting noticed, although he studied ceramics in university, his first solo exhibition was in Tokyo and took place in 2008. He still lives and works in Arita-cho in this workshop that you see in the photographs above and below, it looks like a great little place which has just enough space to move and work in with an amazing Japanese garden in the forefront. As you make you’d be looking right at that view, wonderful!

I intentionally decided that I wouldn’t showcase shots of his pottery, mainly because it’s been very ‘object’ based on the blog lately, so I stuck to the process of him working towards some finished pieces. What I would recommend is taking yourself over to his webpage to enjoy the selection in his gallery, there’s a wide range of items and you can appreciate each one singularly. From what I can tell Takeryo mainly makes with red clay, each one is glazed quite uniquely and is wood fired leaving burn marks where the ash has settled and disrupted the immediate surface. Although it seems like his speciality revolves around patterns, where he etches into the surface of the pot, I’m generally more of a fan of the works that are simpler, the glaze and form just speak for itself in my opinion. These simple techniques are in no way easy to master, watching someone like Shoji Hamada yesterday on youtube had me very much in awe of this type of process. I love the fact that each item isn’t 100% perfect, it’s got some character about it and every one is guaranteed to get better with age and last a long time. I hope you enjoy the photography below, there’s plenty more to be found on his website.

www.takeryo.com

BECOME A PART OF OUR DESIGN JOURNEY

Special discounts on OEN Shops curated collection

• Exclusive behind-the-scenes content
• Early access to content from our OEN publication
• Deep dive into design concepts
• Curated guides to the worlds top art and design cities