Est. 1998 · Kyoto, Ohara
Kamado
窯 場
A working studio in the northern hills. Four rooms, one fire, and about nine hundred pieces a year that never leave the valley unfinished.
01 — The Kiln
It is fed for sixty-two hours
登 り 窯
Four chambers climbing the slope, each one heated by the one below it. Red pine only. The stoker sleeps in two-hour shifts and the fire is never once left alone from the moment it is lit until the last chamber is bricked shut.
02 — The Wheel
The clay decides how tall it wants to be
轆 轤
A kick wheel, cast concrete, turned by the left foot. Nothing here is centred by machine. A bowl takes four minutes and about eleven years to learn.
Interlude The bench notebook Drag a page · drag the glass
Arrow keys turn the page · grab the brass to magnify
03 — The Glaze Room
Ash from the kiln that fired last year
釉 薬 室
Wood ash is washed seven times, settled, and kept in the dark for a season before it is any use. The celadon on the third shelf has been running from the same bucket since 2011, topped up and never emptied.
04 — The Finished Shelf
What the fire agreed to keep
棚
Everything that survives is set out here in the order it came from the chambers, and left for a week before anyone is allowed to decide whether it is good.
Afterlight
The chambers cool for four days
Opening a kiln early cracks everything in it. So the studio closes, and for four days nobody is allowed to look.