About Shoji Hamada

  • Biography

    Shoji Hamada along with Bernard Howell Leach is considered co-founder of modern day pottery, blending Eastern and Western techniques. Hamada was an important member of the mingei folk art movement, focusing on aesthetic as well as function in his ceramic creations.

    Hamada was trained at Tokyo Technical College and became greatly inspired by the works of Bernard Leach, so much so that he traveled to St. Ives, United Kingdom with Leach and worked there for three years.

    Afterwards, he established his own studio in Mashiko, Japan. Shoji Hamada was declared a "Living National Treasure" in 1955 and died on January 5, 1978.

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