Kato Mami 加藤真美 b. 1963
H32 × W34 × D32.5 cm
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A striking sculptural vessel with a distinctive interior, where shard-like forms extend outward from within. The work recalls unfolding flower buds or the flicker of a blue flame. Constructed using Kato’s signature slab-building technique in Seto porcelain, the form is shaped through a sensitive balance of weight and gravity. The result is both organic and precise in expression. Her renowned “Frost glaze” produces crystalline textures that ripple across the surface, casting soft, shifting shadows that invite quiet contemplation. In this piece, the glaze appears in a luminous teal-turquoise variation, further enhancing its depth and movement. Kato Mami is an award-winning contemporary Japanese ceramic artist whose vessels serve as sites of reflection and human connection. She is a multiple Grand Prize recipient at the Mino Ceramics Exhibition in Gifu. Regarding her Kishibe series, Kato describes it as an exploration of our ability to connect with others, as well as with versions of ourselves across past and future. As she expresses: “This work evokes a sense of the self on this shore, and those who have come before us on the opposite one—figures standing along distant banks.”
こちら側にいる自分と、先に逝った人たち、あちら側、両岸にたたずむ者達、といったイメージです。
–– Kato Mami, on the Kishibe series (2025).