The history of Japan’s ceramics stretches all the way back to the Neolithic period. Throughout the centuries, technologies like the anagama kiln and potter’s wheel made their way to Japan via China and Korea and were incorporated into the Japanese style. Perhaps the most typically Japanese form of ceramics are the utensils used in the art of the tea ceremony. Employing pottery crafted by hand rather than on a potter’s wheel, tea ceremonies run on the notion of wabi-sabi, embracing the uniqueness in the utensils’ imperfections. Also embracing uniqueness in ceramics is Yufuku, a gallery located in Aoyama. Founded in 1993, Yufuku displays contemporary ceramics, metalwork, glass and lacquerware from Japan and abroad that are ‘often devoid of functionality, and stand alone for art’s sake’. Recent exhibitions have included porcelain by Yoko Imada, wood-fired stoneware by Kosei Masudaya and stoneware by Keizo Sugitani. Yufuku also frequently takes the show on the road, participating in art fairs in cities like London, Singapore and New York. So if that nice piece of stoneware is a bit too heavy to lug home, you can just wait for them to come to you.
