Akiko Takahashi

Akiko Takahashi is a Japanese ceramist who runs her small ceramics studio Yanasan Kobo in the Yanaka district, a comparatively quiet part of Tokyo. She designs and makes each of her ceramic pieces herself at her workplace, which is just the size of four tatami mats. Tatami mats are traditional Japanese floor mats made of rice straw, which are used in Japan as a unit of measurement for room sizes. A single tatami mat measures approximately 1.8 m × 0.9 m. Akiko Takahashi's workshop is therefore only about six square meters in size.

Akiko Takahashi has been making pottery since her primary school days. The reason why she still does it today is simple: working and shaping the clay with her own hands and holding a finished object in her hands at the end motivates her time and time again.

The artist writes: "I want my objects to bring moments of discovery and joy to those who use them. Not only functionality, but also inspiration."