Aya Courvoisier　
クヴァジエ 彩

Aya’s home and studio, located in a corner of a small shopping street of Tokyo’s Setagaya district, is a 30-year old vintage apartment that permeates with a Japanese ambiance. The interior elements include a low tea table that sits upon a tatami floor, an engawa (a covered corridor resembling a porch), and a tokonoma (an alcove in which items for artistic appreciation are traditionally displayed). The shelves are lined with an assortment of antiques collected from around the world as well as her own works, while the engawa is filled with a diverse array of plants. This space where East meets West, and the new and the old harmoniously complement each other's charm, is indeed a distinct reflection of her very person. Born and raised in Fukushima to a Japanese mother and a French father, Aya moved to France when she entered university. For the nine years that followed, she worked as a local coordinator on contemporary art projects and was involved in the acquiring of vintage clothing and antiques. In the meantime, she attended a ceramicist’s workshop where she independently taught herself skills and techniques in pottery. In 2020 she returned to Japan for work, leading her to establish her studio in Tokyo and start her practice as a ceramic artist.

The works created through techniques of hand building and slab building, are purposely not “overworked” so as to allow distortions, uneven thickness, and traces of the tools to remain. Although encountering Aya’s works for the first time, they seemed to emit an air of familiarity as one finds in an old vessel. They certainly reflect her artistry in that while having an edginess of sorts, they also harbor a sense of flexibility that is welcoming and naturally finds a way to one’s heart. Aya, who is also buyer of antiques, had always found herself surrounded by old things since childhood. Even today, she expresses preference for items that are covered in dust or have been used and worn-out rather than those which are brand new. Aya’s works embody the profound atmosphere and beauty of imperfection that old things possess. Surprisingly, she had established her current style after returning to Tokyo. The works she produced while in Paris were more earthy and rugged, and bear no resemblance to her current oeuvre. In France she had savored Japanese cuisine, yet upon returning to Japan, she on the contrary began to dine at bistros. She laughed as she mentioned how her tendencies in both pottery and cuisine had seemingly become reversed. Perhaps her roots and ties to France had conversely come to manifest in her work as a result of leaving the country.

Aya describes her work as being like jewelry. If jewelry adorns a person’s skin and enhances its beauty, Aya’s pottery serves to decorate food and make it appear more delicious and attractive. Her representative work PERLE creates an elegantly charming border around dishes, like a string of pearls around one’s neck. DANSE introduces a light and cheerful rhythm to dishes, like the hem of a skirt that drifts and wavers as once dances. The vases that draw their motif from the contours of the female body, lends an air of femininity and supple strength to flowers. Fashion is also an important source of inspiration for Aya. Alongside her artistic practice she is involved as a coordinator for projects related to fashion and art, and due to her outstanding appearance, also appears as a fashion model in various magazines and web content. As an artist of eclectic talent, she continues to create works that beautifully add flair to our lives while incorporating a vast myriad of essences.