Kaori is a Japanese ceramicist living and working in London. She was born in Arita, coming from a family of ceramics traders and from the age of eight, lived in Kyoto – both places famous for ceramics. She grew up surrounded by ceramics and immersed in nature playing with plants, trees, insects and animals.
After gaining an MA in Ceramics from Kyoto City University of Art, Kaori embarked on an exchange programme in 1995, to study at the Royal College of Art, London. She moved to London in 2001 where she currently lives and works.
Her tableware is made using a unique moulding technique she has developed over the years. She wants her tableware to be incomplete and passive so that it embraces its function of welcoming food and other contents.
For her, making tableware is like breathing – a simple, natural thing. She wants her work to embody nature and create an experience of it in some small, intimate way. She hopes the quietness and simplicity of her tableware allows it to fit into how different people live and to inspire pleasurable use.