“While producing, I always imagine my creations would blend in our day-to-day life. Through my works, I want to express an atmosphere that makes you feel some sort of “time accumulation,” – objects that seem to exist from long, long time ago. I always hope that vases and tableware that I make would promote a little bit richer, more comfortable life of ours. My vases were created with an image of folk instruments hung on the walls of old houses or farm houses. I believe the metallic glaze I chose to use is very effective to express such an atmosphere.

To some extent, the shapes of my works also have been inspired by those tools and agricultural instruments, however, what I want to realize is the functional beauty of them – beauty of an inevitability the functional elements of those tools have.

The metallic texture has not only sharpness but also an oozing softness only the ceramics can produce, contributing to a different attraction from the real metal. When fired, the clay can stop the moment and permanently retain an expression of time passing and dissolving – one thing that has allured me for so long in managing the material of clay.

I also want to esteem the attraction in the textures of ancient ceramics. In the white glazed containers, I tried to reflect a soft and smooth texture of Faience, widely popular pottery in the 15-16th centuries Europe. And with the blue glazed containers, I wanted to regenerate the blue surface of the pottery used in ancient Egypt and Turkey.

I have been strongly fascinated with the beauty of functioning objects, and shapes produced by the objects when they are used. I always want to make an artwork whose form would offer a glimpse of its background, suggesting a presence based on its inevitability.”

Courtesy of Keiichi Tanaka.

producer: keiichi tanaka