Midori Takaki

When Midori arrived in England to study social anthropology in 1992, she had no plans to become an artist. However, for nearly two decades now, she has been working as an artist making ceramic sculptures in her studio in Canterbury.

Her work captures her imaginary life and real life, which overlap.  She used to pretend to live as a ‘normal’ person in society but wildness broke through the thin veneer and consumed her. Once she started making sculpture, all those layers of pretension fell away. She was finally one whole person.

Midori loves ceramics as most Japanese do. She loves stretching clay with her hands to find what it becomes. Her studio is quiet, but in her head she asks lots of questions to the clay whilst making. She lets the clay lead her as much as possible. The wide range of her work shows her main focus as well as her small discoveries and excitement in daily life. She challenges herself to break the mould every year. She thinks boredom and repetition are the enemy of her creativity.

When she is not working, which is rare, she escapes to the woods or reads books. She is secretive and reclusive. She is seldom seen, but surprisingly friendly if she happens to be in a good mood.