Takeshi Yasuda’s work exploits the plasticity of porcelain, creating slumped and folded shapes which retain the vessel form. Small sunken creases appear across the surface of this thrown bowl, where the porcelain walls have been cut and folded inwards. They disrupt the stillness of the smooth and glassy surface, creating undulating watery celadon reflections.

Yasuda was apprenticed at the Daisei-Gama Pottery in Mashiko, Japan and set up his first studio there from 1963 to 1966. He moved to England in 1973 where he made functional ceramics in earthenware (see 50781 and 50782) and low-fired porcelain. In the early 2000s, a desire to deepen his understanding of porcelain led him to Jingdezhen in China, an area renowned for its porcelain production. Here he became the director of the Pottery Workshop between 2005 and 2011. In 2011 Yasuda co-founded the RedHouse ceramics studio in Jingdezhen with ceramicist Felicity Aylieff and curator Baixu Xiong. [1]

Sim Panaser, August 2020

[1] RedHouse leaflet, <https://www.aic-iac.org/wp-content/uploads/RedHouse-Leaflet-Introduction-2018.pdf> [accessed 14/08/20]