An Audience with Akiko Hirai, Japanese potter | GOLDMARK

Internationally renowned Japanese potter Akiko Hirai shares her artistic journey with Mike Goldmark, revealing the motivations behind choosing pottery over psychology, her family's influence and a mentor's guidance. Akiko discusses the balance of fragility and strength in her work, often intentionally bringing her work to the point of collapse and the psychological concepts contained in her pots. She also discusses the importance of daily routines, spontaneity and decision-making in the studio. She reflects on past experiences, the challenges faced, and the unique identity formed through her work. https://www.goldmarkart.com Akiko Hirai never dreamed of becoming a potter – yet in recent years, she has found herself one of the most sought-after makers of her generation. Relinquishing her post as the Head of Ceramics at Kensington and Chelsea college to tackle an unprecedented demand for her work, Hirai has enjoyed knockout shows throughout the country. This will be her third exhibition at the Goldmark Gallery; her first, in 2020, sold out in a matter of hours and the second, in 2023, was equally successful. Born in Japan, where she studied for a degree in psychology, Hirai discovered her love of clay in the UK almost by accident. She has since spent the last 18 years in the very same studio space she took immediately after her graduation from Central St Martins in 2003. Though it was in Japan that Hirai was first exposed to ceramics, it is in the UK, away from Japan’s formal pottery traditions, where she has been able to find her individual voice. We are delighted to be showing her work again. Akiko Hirai’s pots are housed in major international public collections, including the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Fitzwilliam in the UK, the National Museum of Ireland, Germany’s distinguished Keramikmuseum Westerwald, and New York’s Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse. Goldmark Films is the Pro Moviemaker Filmmaker of the Year and four-times Royal Television Society Award nominated independent film making arm of the world-renowned Goldmark Gallery. It has been producing broadcast arts documentaries for over 20 years and has made 24 feature length documentaries and 100 plus shorts. Goldmark's global reputation allows it to gain intimate and revealing interviews with some of the world's leading artists, ceramicists, writers and critics. Its films on contemporary artists are complemented by a stable of programmes unveiling the fascinating life stories of both the famous and the forgotten painters, potters and sculptors of the 20th century. https://www.goldmarkart.com Goldmark is an art and ceramics gallery, Royal Television Society-nominated film maker, book publisher, printmaker and scholarship hub. A shop like no other! A selling gallery of national and international significance, it has stood at the heart of Uppingham, for over half a century. The gallery's investment in and support of artists and potters means it now owns over 50,000 works of art, represents the estates of several major 20th-century artists and has exclusive representation of major potters from Japan and Korea to Denmark, the UK and the USA. Its bespoke exhibitions tour public and commercial UK galleries every year. https://www.goldmarkart.com/ WEBSITE https://www.goldmarkart.com/ LATEST DOCUMENTARY • Koichiro Isezaki: Bizen Born DOCUMENT... RICHARD JAMES • Richard James: Beachcomber as Shaman ... AKIKO HIRAI • Akiko Hirai: 'Mark of the Pot' | DOCU... #AkikoHirai #pottery #goldmarkgallery