It’s no secret that Yannick and I are fans of Mashiko Pottery, so when I heard that they were going to be showing at the Earl’s Court Craft/Home/Top Drawer exhibition I emailed him right away and we both got very excited. I wrote about some of the other stalls we visited in my last post, but Mashiko deserves a post all of its own.
We first encountered Mashiko Pottery at the London Design Festival in 2012 (see what I wrote about that show here) and we were bowled over. We weren’t the only ones – their pots subsequently went on sale at the V&A Museum shop and the Courtauld Gallery shop, where they have now completely sold out (except for maybe the odd cup or two at the V&A if you move really quickly). Hopefully with this latest visit to the UK both galleries will be restocking with fresh supplies.
Mashiko is a town in Tochigi Prefecture, just north of Tokyo. It came to fame through the ceramics master Shoji Hamada, who met Bernard Leach in Tokyo and came to the UK with him, helping him choose a site for his pottery at St Ives and set up his first traditional Japanese wood-burning kiln. Hamada spent three years at St Ives, strongly influencing Leach in the development of the simple, honest style of pottery that has become associated with his name.
On his return to Japan in 1923 Shoji Hamada continued to develop the style, settling in Mashiko and becoming one of the main founders of the “Mingei” (Arts and Craft) Movement. He was designated a Living National Treasure in 1955.
The Tohoku earthquake hit Mashiko hard. Many kilns were destroyed and forty percent of the works by Shoji Hamada held in the museum in the town were smashed. It was particularly sad to lose the traditional ‘climbing kilns’, built into the hillside which are the soul of Mashiko Pottery. They’ve been working ever since to rebuild their lives and their traditional industry, and still hold their regular pottery festivals twice a year, in May and November.
The Mashiko range including platters, jugs, tea sets, serving bowls, plates, teacups and sake cups. On show at Earl’s Court were works by individual artists and pottery produced by the many pottery studios that fill the town. It is characteristically thick and sturdy, glazed in predominately earth tones like brown, black, white, persimmon, and amber, or celadon (a sort of light turquoise-green).
I was very attracted by the work of Fujiya Sakuma ( who is also the representative of the
Mashiko Support Centre for Pottery, leading the work to restore Mashiko after the earthquake) and the piece I would most like to have taken away with me (it wasn’t a selling exhibition, unfortunately) was this sake cup by him.
This square dish is also by Sakuma.
The flower-decorated teapot is by Iwao Otsuka.
I also loved these sake cups, especially the one in front in a white glaze with with black poured decoration.
This set of cups and dishes (Inoue) has just the earthy, honest feel that I associate with Mashiko.
As do these rectangular plates (Wada).
This cherry-blossom decorated bowl (Kajiura) matches the one at the top of this post.
In case you’re wondering, these brushwork decorated mugs (Rihei) are what took Yannick’s eye.
By the way, if you’d like to get better acquainted with Yannick, my frequent companion on my forays into Japanese art and craft, you can find out more about him on his blog, In Search of Lost Time(s).
If that Iwao Otsuka teapot is for sale in London, I will buy it. Are you listening, Courtauld and V&A?
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Oh, I hope they are!
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I went to Mashiko on an excursion when I was in high school. We were too young to appreciate everything but since Mashikoyaki is affordable we had fun going around and shopping for little things.
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Oh, lucky you! I’m sure it was a lot more affordable buying in Mashiko itself than it is in London.
Do you know anywhere in Tokyo that sells Mashiko ware?
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You may find a few items in different tableware shops but I do not know of any specialized shops. This shop came up in a search. Looks like it used to be just web based but now has a physical store in Futagotamagawa in Setagaya-ku.
http://www.monsen.jp/shop/
Their page on mashikoyaki:
http://www.monsen.jp/mashiko/
They have nice things.
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Thanks, I’ll give it a go!
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I have 8 Mashiko plates for sale @ $120 each if you are interested, I can send photos
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Thanks for the offer, but Yannick and I are trying to cut down on our Mashiko shopping! 🙂
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I was a flight attendant in the 70s and had the opportunity t purchase lots of Mashiko pottery and am in the process of downsizing and would like to sell it….any suggestions for pricing or for finding buyers would be appreciated..
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Sorry, no ideas, apart from eBay.
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