18.  Sakiyama Takayuki 崎山 隆之

Sakiyana Takayuki was born in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture, in 1958 and studied ceramics at Osaka University. In 1987, he built "Hidaka Kiln" in Koganezaki, Nishiizu on the Izu Peninsula west of Tokyo. The sea has intrigued him since childhood and his unique sand glaze makes his sculptures appear to be made of sand on the beach and shaped by the current of receding water. It is typical of Sakiyama's work, which often refers to the rugged seashore near his home.
In Sakiyama Takayuki's work, form and surface flow seamlessly, they are carefully carved sculptures but visibly true to their origins as functional utensils. Most of Sakiyama's works are double layered, with a container inside and a decorative surface with an extraordinary sense of movement where the inside and outside seem to merge seamlessly. The fusion of the sculptural surface with the functional form of a container is a design consistent with both the Western Arts and Crafts movement and the Japanese Mingei movement.
Sakiyama Takayuki's work is in important collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Musée national de Céramique, Sèvres in Paris, the Museum of Art and Design in New York, the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology in Oxford and the Victora and Albert Museum in London.