Ajiki Hiro 安食ひろ b. 1948

Born Shimane Prefecture

As a child, AJIKI HIRO dreamed of becoming an oil painter and world traveler. Throughout the early 1970s, he traveled extensively, visiting more than thirty countries. Although his dream of oil painting never materialized, he found a new canvas in clay. For several decades, Ajiki has concentrated on perfecting the central element of the Japanese tea ceremony, the teabowl (chawan). In his teabowls, his goal is to express both his energy and personality. He views the tea ceremony as an intimate form of communication between the host and their guests, all sharing a spiritual experience. He further elaborates:

"The small space embraced within your palms [when holding a teabowl] becomes a mirror to reflect both yourself and the world around you, telling a story… the tea ceremony itself offers a space and time for communication as participants share equally in the moment."

Selected Public Collections:

Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, NC
Baltimore Museum of Art, MD
Cincinnati Art Museum, OH
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gifu, Japan
Worcester Art Museum, MA

His chawan range from jet-black Raku and Seto-guro styles to his signature "basara" chawan, adorned with silver, gold, red and blue metallic decorations.