Brighten up your dining table. irodori kiln vessel made by Mika Sakai | Asahi Shimbun Digital Magazine & [and]

In a large plate, add a small amount of white fish. Place the grilled fillet on a leaf-shaped plate. Even without the grated daikon radish and lemon, I feel like it would be a picture. The pattern on the vessel is gorgeous, but it's not too intrusive, and it fills in the blanks. A technique called "kneading" that combines different colored clays instead of drawing such a detailed pattern. Ceramic artist Mika Sakai's tableware makes even the simplest of dishes look like a splendid dish.

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Put the address you learned into your car navigation system and run towards Mt.Fuji. I found a gallery-like space in a corner of a private house set back from the main street. It doesn't have a particularly conspicuous signboard, but as soon as I saw the vessel displayed on the other side of the glass window, it clicked. This is Mr. Sakai's pottery studio "irodori kiln".

Colorfulness that overturns the concept of Japanese tableware and geometric patterns like textiles. The irodori kiln pottery, which is familiar enough to be used on a daily basis but pops like modern art, is born from a small pottery studio in Fujinomiya City, Shizuoka Prefecture.

Sakai studied clothing design and worked in the fashion industry for about a year when he was in his twenties. As he himself says, "I originally came from clothes, so I haven't been immersed in pottery." may also be the reason.

"The dishes I make are flashy, but I want to make Japanese food look delicious. For example, the pure white dishes that come out at family restaurants are difficult to use at home. If it's a hamburger, It might go well with simmered food, but it's really difficult. I feel that tsuchimono is a bit cloudy, or rather dull, and goes well with Japanese food." Above all, Mr. Sakai cheerfully says that it is important to believe that what you make is "cute!"

"Cute" is the happiest

Design hints are scattered all over the place. Theme park walls, department store floors, eyeshadow palettes. Clothes, which I love, give me a lot of inspiration. If you are interested in clothes at a store, search for images on the Internet and save them on your smartphone. Using that as a hint, I arranged small boards called test pieces and tried to combine colors.

"While doing it, I often drift away from the original color. It's cute with this color in it, or is this better than this? I was trying to make something autumnal. , Oh, I thought it was a little summery, so I changed it." The knowledge of color coordination that I learned at a fashion school is also useful in such places.

A design drawing of a pattern called a recipe is created by coloring the squares in Excel. "I'll change it later, so the color is appropriate." While laughing happily, he showed me a stack of copy paper and a geometric pattern pasted on a magazine appendix notebook. It's precisely because you trace the process once in your head like this that you can move your hands without hesitation.

“Some people improvise. They are artists. Their works are one-of-a-kind. It's crowded, isn't it? I want you to use it more than that."

"I tend to think that art is difficult, isn't it? But pottery that you can pick up and use is one of the most familiar crafts. My pottery is just 'cute'. No matter how many patterns there are. It doesn't matter how elaborate it is or how long it takes, it's my problem. It's really the same as the clothes."

The delicate work of creating patterns

He showed me a little of the work. This time, I will use white, brown, light blue, and green clay to create the "basic" checkerboard pattern.

Clay that has been pre-mixed with pigment and is shaped like a yokan is sliced ​​into 5mm thin slices. Next, while applying water to the cross section with a brush, the four colors of clay are layered in a fixed order.

The millefeuille-like clay is sliced ​​again, and this time it is piled up, shifting each line, as if stacking bricks. Cut and stack, cut and stack. When I hold my breath and stare at such intricate and delicate work, I can't help but lose my senses halfway through if it's complicated or if it's light-colored, but the checkerboard pattern is still simple. A bright laugh echoes in the pottery studio.

"If I don't make sure it doesn't slip off properly, people will think I'm not good at it (laughs). I need it."

The process of assembling the clay takes about an hour and a half to two hours. “If I make a pattern that is too elaborate, it takes too much time and I make a lot of mistakes. And the time it takes to make it will be the price of the vessel, which will lead to the customer's wallet. Because I want people to enjoy the pottery I make without stress, I try to put in the right amount of time and effort.

"If it's too light or too heavy, won't you stop using it? When I wash it, it's hard to be heavy, and I'm a little scared that it's so light. I think it might break. Thick. It's the thickness that gives me a sense of security when I hold it in my hand, and I personally like it."

Same shape. Never make it strange, and don't change it from time to time. “I wouldn’t like it if a customer who bought several copies said, ‘I can’t stack them.’”

Beyond an Explosive Hit

Several years ago, the irodori kiln became popular. It was introduced on Instagram by actor Fumino Kimura, who is known for her love of pottery. It was so popular that fans who couldn't get it asked for a score limit on Instagram.

"I'm happy when the sold-out state continues, but it's scary. Some people buy and resell it just because it's a boom." It is said that the days of continuing to make as if they were forced to continue for about two years.

"Compared to that, I still have some left over, so I feel sorry for the shop. I'm afraid it won't sell well, but then I can go to the craft fair and do business and do my best again. New customers I think it would be nice if you could come to

One of the charms of irodori kiln pottery is the fun of collecting them one by one. As autumn deepens, there will likely be an increase in deep, nodding colors, and in the future, designs that make you feel like winter will surely hit store shelves. "This is so cute, you'll want to collect it, right?" says Sakai. As long as her passion doesn't run out, I'm sure she'll continue to create unique and attractive vessels.

Fujinomiya City, Shizuoka Prefecture, where the foot of Mt. Fuji spreads out. In a residential area surrounded by greenery, there is a pottery studio “ir…

irodori kiln Mika Sakai's solo exhibition October 25th (Friday) to November 7th (Thursday), 2019 Terrace Mall Matsudo store November 13th (Wednesday) to 19th (Tuesday), 2019 at Ginza Mitsukoshi

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