The studio
The studio sits behind a sliding wooden door on a lane that survived the fires and the war — one of the reasons Yanaka still feels like old Tokyo. The front room holds the wheel and the drying boards; the back room, the glaze buckets and the kiln.
It's a quiet place to work. Mornings are for throwing, when the light comes in low across the bench. Afternoons are for trimming and glazing. The kiln runs when there are enough pots to fill it, and not before.
A single wheel by the window, worn smooth at the splash pan. Everything here is thrown on it, one piece at a time.
Holds a few dozen pieces. Reduction firing gives the celadon its colour; each firing is logged in a notebook kept since 2011.
A grey stoneware body from a supplier in Tochigi, wedged by hand and reclaimed from trimmings so little is wasted.