88. Tomoko Kawakami  川上智子

Tomoko Kawakami was born in 1957 in Takayama, Gifu prefecture and studied at the Tajimi City Pottery Design and Technical Center. Ever since elementary school, she was interested in ceramics, admiring ceramics from the Jomon culture. The idea that with clay you can create a shape with just your hands, without tools, and that the shape remains when you bake it intrigued her so much that after high school she decided to attend the Design Institute. The renowned Harumi Nakashima was one of her teachers, and his views on the design and craft of ceramic art greatly influenced her thinking about ceramics. In her work, she tries to go back to the essence of what attracted her to ceramics as a child, the idea that you can create a lasting form with your hands and clay. Her objects are built by hand from the base and seem to emerge directly from the clay as if they were waiting for her hands to shape them. They are vessel-like creations, elegant, light yet robust, where a smooth jet-black interior contrasts with a sand-colored, grainy glazed exterior. In addition to her creative work, Tomoko Kawakami has also worked since 2006 as general manager at the Tajimi City Cultural Atelier gallery "VOICE," a famous exhibition and information center of ceramic art and design. She has participated in important exhibitions and won awards including the Special Judge's Award at the 5th International Ceramic Competition MINO and the grand prize at the 54th Premio Faenza, in Italy. Her work is included in the collections of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Japan Foundation, the Museum of Modern Ceramic Art in Gifu, the Faenza international ceramics Museum and the Mino Ceramic Art Museum inTajimi.