Pottery by Yoko Ozawa Photographed by Olga Bennett

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I was awoken with a surprise email the other morning, when Yoko Ozawa sent over a fantastic array of photographs taken by the ever so talented Olga Bennett. Olga’s a bit of a regular here on the blog and has been heavily featured in the past, to say we’re admirers is an understatement.

Olga’s a freelance photographer based in Melbourne and I’ve known about this collaboration with Australian based potter Yoko Ozawa for quite a while. Originally her studio was photographed by Olga for a series titled ‘Spaces’ that documents the way creatives work and use their environments. So moving on from that specific project this is a nice compliment to the work that has proceeded, offering us a glimpse of Yoko’s pottery up close and the different pieces that she’s currently creating.

Yoko’s quite a talent, before I mentioned her Japanese roots and how she’s inspired by the Japanese ‘slow design’ movement. She has a unique appreciation for simple, functional and organic objects that we use in daily life, like us folk here. The pottery that she makes all take their names from nature, a reminder of clay’s origins in the earth and of the inherent beauty that surrounds us. Yoko sketches small shapes in a notebook alongside recipes for glazes, as she throws on the wheel she forms traditional Japanese teapots, small trees and other vessels that are all for domestic use.

Her whole method revolves around this ‘slow design’ process, where things are painstakingly simplified and are made to showcase human touch, the craftsmanship behind the item. I like the fact that these aren’t 100% perfect and that they all have tiny little marks and details which make them unique, this is the most exciting part of all the objects we stock in the store. Hopefully you’ll admire these as much as I did this week.

www.yokoozawa.com
www.olgabennettphotography.com

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