27. Kakurezaki Ryuichi 隠崎隆一

Ryuichi Kakurezaki was born in 1950 in Fukue City, Nagasaki Prefecture. He initially studied graphic design at Osaka University of Arts and made a career in that field before deciding to become a potter. He studied among others under Jun Isezaki, a Living National Treasure for Bizen pottery. .

In 1985, he built his own climbing kiln (a traditional kiln using a slope in Osafune-cho, near Imbe, Okayama Prefecture, the ancient home of Bizen ware, where he still lives and works.  As an "outsider," he was able to develop more freely than his many Bizen-derived colleagues, and although he works within the tradition of Bizen, his work differs aesthetically from conventional Bizen ware. In his work, Ryuichi Kakurezaki continues to strive for the fine line between functionality and beauty of design, it's innovative but also artisanal and made with traditional techniques.  Though heprofiles himself as an avant-garde craftsman rather than an avant-garde artist, his independent vision has produced work that is not only innovative but also artistically up to the highest standards, through which he has had a major influence on contemporary ceramic art. Consequently, he is among the most lauded Bizen ceramists and has won numerous awards. His work can be found in all major museums such as the Art Institute of Chicago, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Musée Tomo in Tokyo, the Musée national de céramique, Sèvres, France and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.