Made in Japan

素のものたち | Things Just as They Are | Des objets tels quels

A vase reminiscent of the Li Dynasty, a plate with a Delft atmosphere, farm tools like an African mask. Despite their worldly characteristics, these are all Japanese antiques featured in Koichi Uchida’s book, Made In Japan. With this collection, Uchida uncovers a unique perspective on classical Japanese craft that challenges fixed ideas of tradition. Metal, lacquer, wood, cloth, paper, stone, and soil provide the raw materials, but the configurations they take are full of dramatic surprises that shake the established concept of a Japanese aesthetic.

About author: Koichi Uchida

After graduating from a high school ceramics course in Nagoya City, Japan, Koichi Uchida began work as a potter’s wheel grinder in Yokkaichi City. He then began travelling, going to places like Europe, Southeast Asia, West Africa, and South America; researching and learning about local pottery methods by studying the making of local kilns, ancient pottery and earthenware, methods to make raw materials, firing methods, and molding techniques; and uses this wealth of knowledge to inform his own work.