David Davies [6th – 28th July 2017] Glorious Imperfection – the kintsugi drawings Private view: Thursday 6th July, 18:00 – 20:00 – Book your ticket here In the West, when a piece of ceramic gets broken, our inclination is to repair as invisibly as possible. The Japanese feel differently, and approach the task in an almost opposite way. They employ a technique known as `kintsugi’. Rather than try to hide the marks and cracks of breakage, they illuminate them with gold, silver, copper, or sometimes bright pigments that contrast vividly with the base colour of the ceramic. Their thinking comes from `wabi sabi’, a Japanese derivation of the Chinese Buddhist … Read More

Various [16th – 29th June 2017] Four ceramic artists from Japan, the UK and Italy explore aspects of Japanese art and culture through their work. Each artist, all from different backgrounds, is drawn towards a particular theme – ceramic tradition, aesthetics, philosophy and traditional theatre. Kiramics organically creates objects with functional and sculptural forms exploring different technical processes that are deeply influenced by Zen garden aesthetics and art of Haiku poetry. MORI makes individual functional and semi-functional ware influenced by the memories of his mother and grandmother’s traditional Japanese domestic pottery. JO AYLMER makes slip cast porcelain vessels that respond to the Japanese writer Junichiro Tanizaki’s statement, ‘Were it not for shadows, … Read More

Various – Curated by Tiger Tanuki [4th May – 10th June 2017] Tiger Tanuki presents a unique sales exhibition, tracing the history of the Japanese print from the classic ukiyo-e of the Edo period (1615-1867) to the modern shin hanga and sosaku hanga prints of the 20th century The exhibition features original works by renowned artists such as Utagawa Kunisada , probably the most popular and prolific ukiyo-e artist; Kawase Hasui , considered one of the most important Japanese landscape artists of the 20th century; and Ay-O, also known as the ‘rainbow artist’, who represented Japan at the Venice biennale in 1966. CHISOU http://www.chisourestaurant.com/ KIRI http://kiri-london.com/

Various [5th – 29th April 2017] Curated by Charlene Lam of Creative Clerkenwell, the selling exhibition will showcase contemporary art and interior objects that are inspired by Japan and created in London. Featured artists include designer-makers of Japanese heritage like ceramicist and RCA graduate Ikuko Iwamoto and creatives inspired by Japanese culture, including French visual artist Damien Borowik. Visitors are invited to add a touch of Japan to their own homes, with Japanese-inspired artwork and interior objects from UK designers available for sale or commission during the exhibition. The Sway Gallery shop also stocks products specially sourced from Japan. Creative Clerkenwell http://www.creativeclerkenwell.com/ FEATURED DESIGNERS AND ARTISTS Ikuko Iwamoto (ceramics) www.ikukoi.co.uk | … Read More

Nobuyuki Kobayashi [16th – 28th March 2017]   Portrait of Nature ~ Myriads of Gods Nobuyuki Kobayashi is a Japanese photographer who creates unique platinum palladium photo prints of nature. Kobayashi uses platinum printing, an old technique characterised by having the platinum lay on the surface of the paper while the final image is matte due to a deposit of platinum absorbed slightly into the paper. This gives a delicate and sophisticated finish to the photography. To utilize the original texture in the support of the print, Kobayashi uses ‘Hosokawa paper’, a kind of washi paper that is rich and full of texture and its manufacturing method has remained the same … Read More

Kaoru Shimada 【5th – 21st Jan 2017】 Mr. Dile Crocodile is a crocodile. But he has his own pride as a British gentleman. He was born in the Nile, on the edge of the river, but came to London by accident when he was a child. Since then he was brought up by a British couple Mr & Mrs Jones, like a normal kid in London…! Mr Dile Crocodile is an original character created by Kaoru Shimada who is a Japanese author of children’s ( childrens ではない) books as well as an illustrator. Mr Dile Crocodile darted out of her brain and became (becomeではない気が、、、) an independent creature. Now he has … Read More