Makoto Yamaguchi

山口真人

Ceramic Artist • 1978 –

A ceramic artist from Seto, Aichi Prefecture. Influenced by his father, he started his own career as a potter and honed his skills at Kasen Touen (Kasen Pottery Studio). Since becoming independent, he has created a unique style that reflects his own sensibility, producing works using traditional techniques such as Oribe, Shino, and Ki-Seto, as well as others using different Oribe glazes and a fusion of traditional patterns with Oribe, which he named “Rimpa Oribe.”

BASED IN

Seto, Aichi Prefecture

WEB SITE

Instagram

POINT OF VIEW

Once you see Makoto’s work, you will never forget its shapes, patterns, and colors. All of his works, from his representative Rimpa Oribe, to Shino and Ki-Seto, have an incomparable individuality. They reflect his unique path, based on what he has seen in his travels, and his inspiration from Momoyama ware (a style developed during the sixteenth to seventeenth centuries, a time when the tea ceremony flourished); an original world where the timeless scenery of the past and that of the future intersect.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

1978: Born in Seto, Aichi Prefecture
2000: Apprenticed at pottery studio
2004: Established independent studio in Seto, Aichi Prefecture, toured East Asia and Europe
2007: Selected for Tokai Traditional Craft Exhibition, Japan Traditional Craft Exhibition, Aichi Bunren Art Exhibition, Seto City Art Exhibition
2008: Selected for Asahi Ceramic Art Exhibition; awarded Mayor’s Prize, Seto City Art Exhibition
2009: First solo exhibition at DO LIVING ISSEIDO, Handa, Aichi Prefecture
2012: Solo exhibition at Daimaru Shinsaibashi, Osaka (and annually thereafter from 2013-2017)
2013: Solo exhibition at Ginza Kuroda Touen, Tokyo (as well as every year thereafter from 2014-2021)
2015: Solo exhibition at Mitsukoshi, Nihonbashi, Tokyo (and again in 2017, 2019)
: Since then, he has held solo and group exhibitions every year.

RESOURCE

Ki-Seto
- Generic term
- Technique
A type of Mino ware created during the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1573 – 1603). It is characterized by a pale yellow glaze, and is often decorated with line carvings and floral motifs, as well as mottled patterns in green caused by copper sulfate called tanpan, and in brown caused by iron. It uses two types of glazes: one transparent and shiny called “Kiku-zara-de” (chrysanthemum plate) or “Guinomi-de” (sake cup), and the other moist like fried bean curd called “Ayame-de” (iris) or “Aburage-de” (deep fried tofu).
Oribe
- Generic term
- Technique
A type of Mino ware first created during the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1573–1603). It is thought to have reflected the taste of Oribe Furuta, a celebrated master of the Japanese tea ceremony, and is characterized by novel shapes and patterns. It can be classified into various types depending on the glaze and technique, including the copper-green glazed So-Oribe and Ao-Oribe, as well as Aka-Oribe, Kuro-Oribe, Yahichida-Oribe, and Narumi-Oribe.
Shino
- Generic term
- Technique
A type of Mino ware which first appeared in the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1568–1600), as well as a general term for ceramics in which a white Shino glaze (based on feldspar) is applied to the “Mogusa-tsuchi” clay. There are several types of Shino ware, including Muji-Shino (plain), E-Shino (picture), Nezumi-Shino (gray) and Beni-Shino (crimson).
Mino ware
- Generic term
A general term for ceramics fired in the Tono region of Gifu Prefecture. A wide variety of types exist, with four major representative styles – Ki-Seto, Seto-guro, Shino, and Oribe – together called Mino Momoyama ware. As time went on, the production of finer porcelain also flourished. Even today, Gifu Prefecture is still the largest producer of ceramics in Japan, producing about half of the country’s ceramics.

KOGEI STANDARD Japanese Crafts Online Media

KOGEI STANDARD

Makoto Yamaguchi

POINT OF VIEW

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY