mel jacobson on mon 2 jul 01
one of the disservices that we as westerners have
been given is:
the old japanese potter, working alone in his studio,
throwing pots all day.
when i was at the hamada pottery there were about 20
people employed there. he had several people using molds
and making his famous square bottles. they made hundreds
of them.
he had a wonderful korean woman that did his famous brush
work.
there were about six throwers.
mr. hamada was a very busy, industrious entrepreneur. running
a very good business. he was honest, caring, and forthright about
what was going on. he did not throw pots, that was for films.
he hired very competent people to do that.
mr. uchida did not throw pots, he was a designer, and much
like mr. hamada, was very busy. mr. uchida, graduated number
one in his class at the tokyo school of art. he was a star very
early on. the royal family ordered a set of his pure white dishes.
he won medals at world's fairs...gold ones. during the second
world war he was hidden away in the mountains to do research
on how to fry food in ceramics. he was protected.
many artists had his same fate.
what concerns me is; we do not understand what makes
a good japanese pottery go. we think it just like us.
sorry, but not the fact. most potteries have 4-10 employees.
it is a group effort. the master designs, looks after kilns, does
research on glaze and does the business end.
the workers make the pots, glaze, load kilns. the women
pack the pots, cook, clean, pack pots, clean kiln shelves, work.
work. work. it not an easy job.
mel
`do it yourself` is not a japanese term.
`singular experts` is a japanese way of life.
From:
Minnetonka, Minnesota, U.S.A.
web site: http://www.pclink.com/melpots
Bert Stevens on mon 2 jul 01
Susan Peterson's book "Shoji Hamada a Potters Way & Work" gives a really
good insight to the working of Hamada's studio
----- Original Message -----
From: "mel jacobson"
To:
Sent: Monday, July 02, 2001 3:41 PM
Subject: hamada/small follow up
> one of the disservices that we as westerners have
> been given is:
>
> the old japanese potter, working alone in his studio,
> throwing pots all day.
>
> when i was at the hamada pottery there were about 20
> people employed there. he had several people using molds
> and making his famous square bottles. they made hundreds
> of them.
>
> he had a wonderful korean woman that did his famous brush
> work.
>
> there were about six throwers.
>
> mr. hamada was a very busy, industrious entrepreneur. running
> a very good business. he was honest, caring, and forthright about
> what was going on. he did not throw pots, that was for films.
> he hired very competent people to do that.
>
> mr. uchida did not throw pots, he was a designer, and much
> like mr. hamada, was very busy. mr. uchida, graduated number
> one in his class at the tokyo school of art. he was a star very
> early on. the royal family ordered a set of his pure white dishes.
> he won medals at world's fairs...gold ones. during the second
> world war he was hidden away in the mountains to do research
> on how to fry food in ceramics. he was protected.
> many artists had his same fate.
>
> what concerns me is; we do not understand what makes
> a good japanese pottery go. we think it just like us.
> sorry, but not the fact. most potteries have 4-10 employees.
> it is a group effort. the master designs, looks after kilns, does
> research on glaze and does the business end.
> the workers make the pots, glaze, load kilns. the women
> pack the pots, cook, clean, pack pots, clean kiln shelves, work.
> work. work. it not an easy job.
> mel
> `do it yourself` is not a japanese term.
> `singular experts` is a japanese way of life.
>
> From:
> Minnetonka, Minnesota, U.S.A.
> web site: http://www.pclink.com/melpots
>
>
____________________________________________________________________________
__
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
melpots@pclink.com.
>
| |
|
