Hitomi Hosono TOUCH Draws on Her Japanese Maker: Hitomi Hosono Heritage and the Best of English Ceramic Tradition to Create Her Exquisite Porcelain Pieces
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H&A JOURNAL: One to watch THE DELICATE Hitomi Hosono TOUCH draws on her Japanese Maker: Hitomi Hosono heritage and the best of English ceramic tradition to create her exquisite porcelain pieces FEATURE DOMINIQUE CORLETT PHOTOGRAPHS KASIA FISZER eeing Hitomi Hosono’s beautiful arriving in the UK, I studied Kutani Pottery sculptural porcelain, so delicate in Kanazawa city in Japan as well as ceramics and restrained, detailed with product design in Copenhagen, Denmark. the intricate patterns of leaves and flowers and coloured with the soft hues WHY PORCELAIN? Sof coral reefs, it’s not surprising to learn that I just love the feeling; smooth, gentle, soft but ceramics are in the artist’s DNA. chilled, like petals in the early morning. I can Hitomi grew up in Gifu Prefecture, Japan, an freely make organic forms with it. Also, it is a area with a rich pottery tradition. Her uncle was magical material: as I work with it, more ideas a potter and she recalls that at secondary school come – it guides me to develop the initial idea ‘everybody was making something out of clay’. in my head into something more unexpected. But it wasn’t until she came to England in 2007 THIS PAGE Hitomi in her to study at the Royal College of Art, and spent HOW DID YOUR VESSELS COME ABOUT? London studio at work on a large porcelain vessel, a few weeks on placement at the Wedgwood My technique was initially inspired by which she is patiently factory, that she discovered the technique that is Wedgwood’s Jasperware, pioneered by Josiah lining with leaf sprigs. the basis of her current work. It is work that is Wedgwood more than 200 years ago, in which On the shelves behind winning her many admirers: she received the Best thin ceramic reliefs or ‘sprigs’ are applied as surface are forms thrown on her in British Craftsmanship award at Decorex 2014 decoration to a piece. Five years ago, I wanted to potter’s wheel, which and next month a company that’s the doyen of make innovative pieces featuring the sprigging when finished will be English interior design, Sibyl Colefax and John technique, but I wanted to move away from using completely covered with Fowler, will show her latest work at its London sprigs solely as ornament, and to attempt to work delicate flower petals and showroom. Her pieces are also in the collections them in a new and sculptural way. leaves FACING PAGE of the British Museum and the V&A. Through experimentation, I eventually found The vessel’s interior, showing porcelain a technique to make the raw sprigs more flexible, leaf sprigs that Hitomi WHAT’S YOUR BACKGROUND? which enabled me to cover the entire surface of moulded, then finished My ceramics experience is rooted in both a shape with them and also to construct objects by fine carving Japanese and European traditions. Before solely out of many layers of sprigs. H&A SEPTEMBER 2015 39 FROM FAR LEFT A bowl in progress; Hitomi TALK US THROUGH YOUR MAKING PROCESS applies leaf motifs to the inside of the vessel with For my sculptural pieces, I press-mould hundreds slip; a selection of her of leaf sprigs in porcelain then patiently carve in carving tools BELOW the finer details. I apply the porcelain leaves in Press-moulded leaf layers on to a form that I have previously thrown sprigs ready to apply to on a potter’s wheel. Each piece takes around a bowl BOTTOM Three four weeks to make. I apply the leaves so densely of Hitomi’s latest pieces: that the underlying shape is entirely hidden, Black Leaves Tower stands like the multitude of green leaves that obscure at 32cm high and is on the branches of a tree. In another strand of my sale at £7,000; Camellia work, I apply delicately moulded and carved and Chrysanthemum Box, with gold leaf interior, leaf and flower sprigs onto small ceramic boxes, 15cm high, costs £2,400; enveloping the practical shapes in these natural and Large Pink Cherry forms, giving them a highly sensuous feel. After Blossom Bowl, 19.5cm high firing, I often gild the insides of these boxes To see our tall, costs £7,600 to add to their precious quality. film of Hitomi WHERE DOES YOUR INSPIRATION COME FROM? at work go to I design leaf and flower sprigs by studying homesand botanical forms, which I then adapt. I analyse antiques.com plant forms by looking, touching and drawing. I am drawn to the intricacy of plants, examining how the veins of a leaf branch out and how its edges are shaped. I am always keen to find the essence of what makes leaves and flowers beautiful. WHERE I developed the coloured pieces last year for the Jerwood Makers Open. I used to use only TO SEE white porcelain as it was perfect for showing HITOMI’S the detail of my pieces, but I had a friend from WORK Tobago and wanted to try something inspired by ❈ Brook Street: An the island’s brilliant colours and ocean creatures. Artist’s Eye at Sibyl I experimented with colours; in the beginning Colefax & John Fowler, they came out horrible but I hit on a technique 39 Brook Street, London, for graduating from white to orange, where I mix W1K 4JE. 6th–27th porcelain powder with different percentages of October. 020 7493 colour. I was really happy with the result. 2231; sibylcolefax.com HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR WORK? ❈ PAD London Art I use the natural beauty of plants to create and Design, Berkeley ceramic objects with sensitively refined details. Square, London, W1. 14th–18th October. WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE? pad-fairs.com I’d like to study more beautiful shapes in the ❈ The Salon Art and natural world and transfer the infinite and complex Design, Park Avenue beauty of the plant forms into my ceramics. Armory, 643 Park Avenue, New York. * Prices for Hitomi Hosono’s pieces range from 12th–16th November. £1,500 to £16,000. Her work is available from Adrian thesalonny.com Sassoon, London. 020 7581 9888; adriansassoon.com 40 H&A SEPTEMBER 2015.