taku imaizumi (1966- ) 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)