“Tradition,”  Ohi Toshio says  “is to receive past knowledge, break it down and use it in a creative way. . . . Tradition shouldn’t rely just on being passed down, but rather on there always being a next in line who has unreserved love for that tradition.”

The history of Ohi ware is inextricably entwined with one of Japan’s greatest traditions. When the Maeda clan invited the founder of the Urasenke-style tea ceremony to take the job of tea master in Kanzawa in 1666, he brought with him Ohi Chozaemon, who produced the finest tea ceremony pottery around. Made from soft clay and shaped by hand with only the help of a spatula, the pottery came to be known simply as “Ohi.”

Ohi Toshio who has an MFA from Boston University uses the lustrous glazes as well as ancient techniques passed down in his family to craft contemporary ceramic art pieces coveted by collectors around the world.  

 

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