The Traveling Pottery project

The Traveling Pottery

Since traveling has been greatly limited this past year, we want our pottery to travel on behalf of us. The owners living in different cities around the world will become collaborators in this project, as they pass on the pottery like passing on a baton. Together, we will experience the changes of the pottery through their journey, starting from the place of origin to the world, from the artist to the owner.

“The Pottery is Born.”
Artists based in Mino province created vessels that will take part in this project.

“The Traveling Pottery.”
The vessels will first travel from Mino province to Tokyo, Paris, New York and other cities around the world, and we will join in on the journey as they are used by the owners in their everyday lives.

“Living with Pottery.”
We will share the experiences of using and living with pottery to future generations.

Mino Ware美濃焼

Mino ware is the most produced pottery in Japan, but it is not well known. Dating back to 1300 years ago, Mino ware has fascinating and traditional pottery including Oribe, Kizeto and Shino. Not only do potters gather in Mino Province, but there are also living national treasures and factories for mass producing potteries that all coexist. Pottery, nonetheless, becomes a part of the people's daily lives. After visiting the area and interviewing potters, we were drawn to young artists who were trying to carve out a new way of pottery and potters who didn’t fit the traditional style of Mino ware.

Not only is there an abundance of clay and glaze, there are also Mino ware research institutes and a community where they help each other with traditional methods of pottery and at the same time, developing new techniques.

Many of the Mino ware artists say that their works do not fit into the style of traditional Mino ware but they say they were able to do it because of this place. And they love this place.

We will continue to share the talents and vessels that were born and created in this region as “Mino ware.”

Artist Atelier visit 作家 うつわが生まれる場所

The Traveling Pottery project

Midori Uchida

The Traveling Pottery project

Fumiko Atsukawa

The Traveling Pottery project

Takumi Kudo