Taku's
pottery career began at his early age when entred the Kyoto
Vocational Training School of Ceramic in 1985. He obtained
the fundamental skills of ceramics such as throwing
technique of a electric wheel there. After graduated from
the school, he worked at Wakisaka Pottery Studio for two
years, producing a large numbers of various tea cups, rice
bowls, and flower vases. He was also engaged in the
development of new products. Having much interests in
scientific knowledge on glazes, he went up to Standard
Course in Ceramics, Kyoto Industrial Experimental
Laboratory. He acquired the characteristics of glazes from
more than five thousands experiments of different
combination of glazes and conditions. He obtained another
techniques on porcelain at Zuiko Gama Company after worked
for four years, and moved to Tokusen Atelier. There he
produced high quality potteries for Japanese-traditional tea
ceremonies for five years. He was independed in 1999 with
wide and various knowledge and skills that can create his
original and uniquie taste and touch of work of both
earthenware and porcelain. At his
independence, Taku went to Egypt under the Japan Overseas
Cooperation Volunteer (JOCV) Programme of Japan
International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and spent two years
and six months teaching at Faculty of Applied Arts, Helwan
University in Giza. Receiving offers from Prof. Saleh Reda:
Egyptian Sculpture, Taku was also involved himself for a new
area of work, such as a fountain sculpture of central
dividers, imperial carved monument and mosaic-tiled wall. In
6th Cairo International Biennale for Ceramics in 2002, his
work "Borderlands"
won a prize amongst the works exhibited from all over the
world. After
returning Japan in 2002, Taku launched his atelier
"Shippokudo" in Kamakura. While engaged in producing
custom-made potteies for individual clients, he hold numbers
of private exhibitions across Japan, including Tokyo, Kyoto,
Kobe, Nagoya, Utsunomiya, Kunitachi, Kamakura and Hayama.
One of such was the One-man Exhibition at ISETAN Department
Store in Shinjuku. The sales of the exhibition were at the
highest record of a week during 2006. In a last few years,
he works as an instructor in a membersip-based ceramic
academy named "REN" at Hayama. In 2007, he was promoted as
the head instructor of the academy. He was
born in Chigasaki in 1966, and spend his childhood in
Sydney, Australia. The days in Sydney were actually as a
terning point of his life. It led him to the career of an
artisan, and determined his unique style and attitude toward
work. He is a very skillful artisan with Egyptian-like sense
of humour and wit. (Written
by Nahoko CHIKU, Education Specialist and
Scientist)
taku
imaizumi
(1966-
)
