That moment just before a bud bursts into a blossom. It’s a critical moment of potential energy ready to expand into the outside world. The ceramic work of Hiroshi Nakada shares the same vitality and sense of tension.

“It’s hard to cut corners when working with white. There’s no color to trim up odd edges, and if the silhouette is off, it will look subpar. In that sense, I think ‘shape’ is the most revealing color,” says Nakada.

The “pearl glaze,” with its pearl-like elegant luster and satin-gloss finish, was originally developed to emphasize the best uses of “white” and “shape.” Pearl glaze is typically medium-fired but is used for overglaze painting in low-fired* Kutani ware. The lower temperature allows the glaze to integrate into the body of the piece like a skin, just before the temperature is raised to bake it.

* low-firing: baking pottery at 800 – 900°C to prevent paint from coming off pieces that are typically baked at 1200°C or higher.

Nakada has been attracting attention as a rising star among kogei artists since receiving the New Artist Award at the Traditional Crafts Exhibition at the age of 29. Currently, his main works are vases and jars and the like, but he had previously focused on creating objet d’art.

In search of  “human connection”

Nakada was born into Nakada Kinen-gama, a Kutani painting studio and kiln that has continued since the time of his grandfather. His hometown of Takando is a hub for Kutani ware painters in Komatsu City. As the eldest son, he was always conscious that he would have to take over the family business, but in his youth, he questioned whether he even wanted to.

After graduating from the craft department of the Ishikawa Technical Senior High School, Nakada studied at another vocational school in Osaka. “The first time I handled clay was there. Since my parents’ house was a painting studio, I had only ever handled the baked porcelain. I felt the same kind of novelty that people do when they see pottery for the first time. Once I felt the joy of seeing clay take shape in my hands, I was hooked.”

Eager to study in earnest, Nakada transferred to the ceramics department of Kyoto Seika University. The concept of “object d’art” was emphasized, and so it was a natural step for him to start creating aesthetic works. He initially created his pieces with casting*, as “at first, I couldn’t grasp the sensation of a form rising up from the clay like on the potter’s wheel.”

*casting: a method of molding that creates a uniform layer of ceramic clay inside a plaster mold. Complex shapes are created by combing several pieces of the plaster mold together.

However, at 27, Nakada stopped making objet d’art altogether.

“I felt a sense of emptiness in what I was making. I started thinking, ‘I want to know other people better.’ Artistic works are independent entities that have a strong sense of self expression, but I wanted to create something to connect with others, not just something solely of myself.”

The sense of the “ego” also made pressing the clay difficult and discomforting.

“I approximated ‘human contact’ with ‘making something with a purpose,’ and thought, ‘I should make that.’ So, with that in mind, I moved away from the art world and started exhibiting at the Traditional Crafts Exhibition.”

“Ever since I was a student, I’ve loved seeing ceramics from all over the country. I was able to meet a lot of artisans, including living national treasures. I don’t mean to sound arrogant, but I thought, ‘So there is a world with such people like us.’ Basically, I love hands-on creators. There are many stand-up artists and interesting people in that group. That’s why I had no qualms about participating in the Traditional Crafts Exhibition.” In his second year participating, Nakada won the New Artist Award.

His action is a reaction.

Nakada’s work is made from Hanasaka pottery stone, a porcelain clay that has been the base of Kutani ware for centuries. His work is often lauded a “New Kutani,” as he only works with the white texture and silhouette, rather than including Kaga gosai, the traditional five colors of Kutani ware: green, yellow, purple, blue, and red.

However, Nakada says, “I dont’t have the sense that I’m creating any Kutani ware.”

“I was considering how should I think about Kutani. Today’s Kutani ware is diverse and complicated. In that sense, I’m inclined to say, ‘If it doesn’t make use of the five colors, it’s not Kutani.’ Kutani has such a long history, even if a particular production area doesn’t.”

“Artists like me can position ourselves as ‘those not confined to express through Kutani, but by other techniques’. And there’s some doubt as to whether newer things that have been incorporated are even really ‘Kutani’.”

While maintaining a certain distance from Kutani ware, Nakada is aware of the influence of the region, noting, “If I didn’t make my work here, it wouldn’t be this kind of work.”

“Kutani is baked and then decorated with a number of techniques. Regardless of whether that appealed to me, I think the fact that I’m surrounded by so much of it may have given me this contrarian reaction to make works of only white.”

“Also, this area has always been strict about reaching a certain level of ‘completion’. That may have something to do with it being a long-established cottage industry, but, at the same time, there’s a high level of ability in putting works together without a single flaw. The level of quality is such that it belies the handiwork behind it, which is one of the things that makes it so appealing.”

Drawing trajectories across several axes

Nakada’s work develops not only in line with himself but also in connection to things outside of himself, such as the material and the region around him. But, he describes how he questioned such connections after seeing a particular news report.

“I’d heard the type of genetic material in the novel coronavirus is in RNA. Humans have DNA, which has two helices spiraling together, but RNA is only one helix. It seems we can’t predict how the virus might mutate, and that makes it difficult to develop vaccines.”

* RNA: contains the same nucleic acid as DNA and has a base structure consisting of phosphoric acid, nitrogenous base, and five-carbon sugars, called nucleotides. RNA is a single-strand polynucleotide, synthesized by transcription using a part of the DNA sequence as a template.

“When I saw the structure of DNA on the news, I thought, ‘Oh, that’s what creators are like’. The most important thing for a creator, perhaps, is to have oneself as an axis and one or two other axes. Those can be community, family, or fellow artists, and I think that varies from person to person. But I think when there are multiple axes, things grow in a neat and orderly way.”

Nakada’s solo exhibition had been cancelled because of the pandemic, and while absorbed in his work at home, he noticed the white buds of the magnolia tree he’d planted in the garden several years ago were about to burst. Then, last year, he released work inspired by their beauty. “In my past, I’d done many geometric works. I wonder why I’m more attracted each year to organic lines and natural things. Maybe I’m just getting older,” he laughs.

When it comes to larger works, like his bowls, the task becomes quite physical, but he said he loves the time he spends at the wheel, he sometimes thinks, “It’s just fun. Sometimes I think while moving my hands, and sometimes I create lines from ideas. I do both. I don’t know what kind of work I’ll make in the future.”

In living here and turning toward the surrounding land, something special is rising up. I’ll be keeping an eye out for future works from Hiroshi Nakada.