Miss Potter-y

I wanted to post a photo of our Japan collage up on the wall - we got a frame from Ikea and Rob put it together.


We made a collage of our Europe trip from 4 years ago that also hangs in our front hall. It's fun to go back and try to remember where everything was from.


When we flew home from Tokyo, the plane had individual tv screens and a ton of movies to watch. I watched four movies: The Holiday, Eragon, Music and Lyrics (I fell asleep when they showed in on the trip over) and Miss Potter. Hence the title!

I did buy a lot of pottery in Japan, some were gifts, some were more utilitarian, but there are a special few that I wanted to share. I have them on our mantle, but I'm bugging Rob to build a simple shelf so I can spread the beauty.

(Freddy is there for scale, because Unki can't jump on the mantle.)

Kinta generously allowed us each to choose one of his pieces as gifts while we were in Mashiko. I chose a small tea cup with glazing that I thought was very artistic.

Rob chose one of Kinta's wooden pieces - a walking fish that he made for an exhibition called "for child".


Also in Mashiko, I bought a piece of pottery from a restaurant/gallery called Starnet. I liked the shape but it's hard to photograph.


From one of Kinta's friends, we bought two more teacups. This is Rob's favorite piece, the design reminds me of punched tin lamps.

At the pension, we drank tea from cups similar to these, but they were blue.


In Takayama, at Kouichisan's work, I found this little bowl that was so interestingly constructed I had to buy it.

The outside is made of three layers rolled together and along the rim you can see the layers.

I love the bottom!


Finally, we bought two pieces from Waka, Kinta's friend who built his own house. I have always loved his pottery, it's so fragile and thoughtfully made and yet each piece is an individual work of art. Most of his work is thin clay glazed white.

But my favorite piece is this tiny vase with an amazing green glaze. It's deceptively heavy but the rim is soooo thin - how can anyone make this by hand?


What I love about Japanese pottery is the respect to tradition, but each artist has put their own spin on their designs. My only regret is that I was limited to buying small pieces - if I could, I would have bought so much more!