Akira Tsuzuki　都築明

Hasami-cho, where Tsuzuki sets his kiln is about 20 min away by car from Arita-cho, Saga-ken. Hasami expanded as a production area of subcontractors of arita ware. It is a “town of ceramics” for there is Nakaoyama with many pottery kilns since Edo period and are quarry sites of pottery raw materials. If you take a drive around, you can find good old Japanese country scenery like Onigitanada, which was selected as one of the Top 100 Terraced Paddy Fields in Japan. In this small beautiful town, the potter Tsuzuki’s artwork is produced.

Tsuzuki’s signature work features the color black with the beauty of simplicity and minimal art. Black is not a single color, and it can sometimes be greenish or greyish, with shades of nuance. This unique black is produced by the combination of the black soil base and transparent glaze. You can fix the color by using a colored glaze, but he says that he wants to focus on the depths of blackness brought by the clear glaze. Not only the color, but the shape of Tsuzuki’s constructive wares with lines and curves is also what attracts people. You can find the structural beauty in simple shapes eliminating unnecessity and showing great persistence even in the millimeter range.

He chose Hasami as his production site after graduation from a college in Yamagata where he learned pottery. You can find many pottery businesses with mass production but not many individual potters. He says that he deliberately chose this place with a few artists. This may be a perfect environment for an artist, where you can acquire your need, materials and kilns, but still can focus on work with no disturbance. He humbly says that the wares are for serving food, and he would like to make wares that are complete when it’s serving dishes; at the same time, you can see his unwavering principle standing firm in calmness and tranquillo.