85. Nakai Namika 中井波花

Namika Nakai was born in Hokkaido in 1993. Initially studying psychology, she changed direction to study ceramics, first in Denmark and then at the Tajimi City Pottery Design and Technical Center, where she graduated in 2019. Since 2022, she has been living, working and studying at the renowned Utatsuyama Kogei Kobo in Kanazawa, a work/study community that allows excellent artisans and artists to further develop, perfect techniques and inspire each other.
Namika Nakai sees ceramics as an independent art form, rather than a design discipline, and seeks to reinterpret traditional ceramic materials such as clay and glaze in her work. For her, ceramic art is not about the functionality or aesthetics of the materials, but the combination of the artist's skills, the characteristics of materials and the firing process that can only be partially controlled. She experiments with the mix of clay and glaze, studying the melting points of clay and glaze at different stages and how it reacts to extreme firing temperatures. Her technique allows the viewer to discover how the piece is shaped and fired. She controls where cracks form, but has no control over their depth. Namika Nakai's sculptures show the extreme conditions under which they were created, how they melted, cracked and curled, just as rock formations are formed by extreme pressure, heat and centuries of erosion. They are not imperfections but show the ambivalent beauty of ceramics, in which strength and fragility alternate. Namika Nakai's sculptures therefore impress with this delicate yet powerful beauty, and there is growing interest in her work. She has now had numerous tent exhibitions and won the 2021 Excellence Award from the Kasama Ceramic Institute.