Chieko Katsumata

The container was my starting point, to express the power of plants
“I once stopped to consider an often overlooked aspect of household crockery – namely the need to produce large numbers of identical forms – and wondered whether I might be able to express something by combining and attracting identically-shaped containers. For example I combined several oval-shaped vessels with pointed ends to make a kind of pumpkin shape, and then experimented with color to express the power of the plant. Conversely, plants and minerals often form important motifs in my pots.”
‘Pots you Can’t Help Wanting to Touch’ , Chieko Katsumata 

Katsumata went to study industrial design in France, where she met a female ceramic artist who used hand-bilt forms to express herself in a free and spontaneous manner. The freshness of this artist’s work made such an impression on Katsumata that she began making pottery herself. It was also through her French art-school tutor that she discovered the beauty of Japanese ceramics. On her return to Japan Katsumata sought to create ceramic vessels in tune with Japanese lifestyles and to carve out her own personal style, and it was from this work on containers that the pumpkin series emerged. Katsumata’s fondness for layering colored slips owes much to a technique of overlaying colors in oil-painting, which she had previously studied. Another fascinating aspect of her work is the variety of textures which extend the scope of pottery, for example her bronze-like surface which convey a dramatic sense of history and the passage of time.
67: French Pumpkin
68,69: Insectivorous Flower