92.  Hashimoto Tomonari   橋本知成

Tomonari Hashimoto was born in 1990 in Wakayama Prefecture. He studied at Kyoto University of Education and Kanazawa University of Art, where he also received his PhD. During the final year of his studies, he wanted to create large-format works, which was not possible at the university, and took up residence at the "Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park" as an artist in residence. Since his 2017 graduation, he has been living and working in Shigaraki. He quickly found success and already in 2019 had his first solo exhibition abroad in Hong Kong, was selected to exhibit at the Korean International Ceramic Biennale and was one of the youngest finalists at the 'Loewe Craft Prize 2019'. Tomonari Hashimoto's work is impressive for its size and intriguing metallic appearance. In some large-scale works, he combines the ceramic pieces with square pillars, mortar or stainless steel. The large monolithic, geometric forms are formed by hand by coil building, then coating them with a very metallic glaze, and firing three times using a special process that uses grain chaff. The burning chaff causes irregular carbon impregnation of the clay body and uneven reduction and oxidation of the metal oxides in the glaze. The beautiful surface with a unique metallic texture changes depending on light and the passage of time. Tomonari Hashimoto is still young, but has already been able to present his work at numerous numerous exhibitions at home and abroad. He has also won several awards and his work has been included in such prominent museums as the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art , the Loewe Foundation in Madrid and the Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park.