Ceramics by Ito Akinobu in our shop ->
What distinguishes talented artists from their contemporaries is that they often do things the hard way in order to achieve their creative aspirations. This single-minded pursuit of artistic integrity is what instantly drew me to the beautiful work of Japanese potter Ito Akinobu, who uses the challenging and uncompromising technique of raw glazing.
Multi-colored overglaze enamel or iro-e bowl by Ito Akinobu
“I raw glaze my pottery because I feel that there is more unity between the clay and the glaze”, says Ito-san, who has been making functional ceramics for over a decade from his studio in the old pottery town of Tokoname in Aichi prefecture. He has been raw glazing his pottery throughout his career, which started after graduating from Nagoya University of Arts School of Design in 1996.
Greenware drying at Ito Akinobu’s studio in Tokoname, Aichi prefecture.
Photo courtesy of Ito Akinobu
Raw glazing, or namagake, produces a distinctly different appearance than mainstream glazing techniques. I personally think the effects of raw glazing are stunning because while the glaze cover the pottery in a seemingly thinner layer than that of bisqued ware, the color seems to have more depth. The milky, pale blue ash-glaze appears to be partially absorbed into the clay and has an aged look. This reminds me of old Imari-ware that was also raw glazed.
Petal edged bowl by Ito Akinobu with beautiful bluish white ash glaze.
Raw glazing is a process of glazing greenware that has not been bisque fired. Most potters nowadays fire pottery once before glazing (called bisque firing) and for a second time after glazing. Contrary to common assumption, bisque firing is a relatively new technique that was developed to make it easier to apply the glaze because once a pot is fired, it is stronger and will not turn back to clay in water. Moreover, bisque firing burns away any organic impurities in the clay that might cause cracking or bubbling in the glaze.
Dragonfly or tombo tools used by Ito Akinobu to measure the depth and width of bowls, cups, and plates.
Photo courtesy of Ito Akinobu
There are many disadvantages to raw glazing. The ware can easily break and distort during glazing, and the failure rate of final firing is higher than that of pre-bisque fired wares even with the utmost care.
Plates by Ito Akinobu are double footed to prevent the center from collapsing while raw glazing.
To mitigate these risks, Ito-san pays careful attention to designing the shape of his ware. All his plates, for example, are double footed so that the center does not collapse with the weight of the glaze on raw clay. He also formulates his own glaze by using ash from leaves that are collected in the fall from surrounding farms. So although Ito-san acknowledges that “the pottery making process is the most difficult” aspect of his work as a potter, it is also the most rewarding.
Ito Akinobu trimming a foot on a bowl at his studio in Tokoname, Aichi
Photo courtesy of Ito Akinobu
Another allure of Ito-san’s work is the decorative influence he draws from traditional Asian pottery. Apart from the press molding that he employs in his petal edged plates, he often uses traditional stamping techniques or imban-te and over-glaze enamel or iro-e. Kathryn finds that Ito-san’s decorative flair reminds her of the colorful fabrics from the U.S. Depression era of the 1930s. For me, I see parallels with the Peranakan-ware that I grew up with in Singapore.
Ito-san’s Japanese rendition of old Asian styles is uniquely appealing and universally reminiscent of a by-gone era.
Just like the beautiful Ko-Imari influenced Meissen-ware that was a European take of traditional Japanese pottery, Ito-san’s Japanese rendition of old Asian styles is uniquely appealing and universally reminiscent of a by-gone era.
A selection of Ito Akinobu’s work is available at our shop.
The post Where Old Asia Meets Today’s Japan: The Captivating Raw Glazed Pottery of Ito Akinobu appeared first on Studio KotoKoto.
