57. Sawada Hayato 澤田 勇人

Sawada Hayato was born in 1978 in Kasama, Ibaraki Prefecture, and currently lives and works in Hitachinaka, also in Ibaraki Prefecture. Although his father was a potter of Kasama pottery and so he grew up in the workshop, he was not attracted to it. Therefore, he first studied economics and welfare at Ryutsu Keizai University before beginning to work with clay in his father's workshop, where he handled sales.  Without any ceramic training, even his father had never taught him pottery, he made his own hand-formed pieces for fun which, to his own surprise, were admitted to the Japan Ceramic Art Exhibition and later the Traditional Crafts Exhibition.  He then presented his work under the direction of Tezuka Bijutsu to group shows and public exhibitions, and in 2015 he had his first solo exhibition at Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi. Sawada Hayato's work is remarkable and surprising because of his unique sense of craftsmanship, which explains his almost immediate success. It stands out for its refined combination of a fully hand-formed body and rich but subtle decoration in abstract and geometric patterns with sludge glaze, inlay and overglaze, to which a thick layer of field-plate glaze is also sometimes added. Multiple firing and repeated inlaying and glazing give the work a gentle warmth and a unique texture that looks both powerful and understated.  And although he works mostly within tradition with chawans and koros and other objects arising from the tea ceremony, he also emphasizes diversity without being bound by fixed ideas,. Therefore, his work looks very modern and contemporary although he always respects tradition. Sawada Hayato has participated in many exhibitions and won awards, including those of the Japan Kogei Association and the 5th Kikuchi Biennial, and his work is included in the permanent collection of the Ibaraki Ceramic Art Museum.