Kawai Akiteru

In the late 1920's in Japan, a small group of artists started the mingei, or "folk craft" movement.  It was a reaction to what they saw as the increasing threat of industrialization upon traditional, handmade crafts.  For them, modern society's eye for beauty in simple utensils for daily life was becoming blinded by low cost and standardization.

So a group of potters, including Bernard Leach, Hamada Shōji, and Kawai Kanjirō, sought to keep the craftsman spirit alive by producing everyday objects which satisfied the practical as well as the spiritual needs of life.  The works they made were functional, expressive, yet unassuming.  As a matter of principal, mingei wares were hardly ever signed.

Kawai Kanjirō (1890-1966) is considered one of the principal figures within the mingei movement.  With equal amounts of engineering skill and artistic sensibility, Kawai created works of extraordinary creativity and rustic charm.  He had a penchant for combining modern methods of manufacture with traditional Japanese design, pioneering a technique called doro-hakémé, or "mud slip brushing."

Thanks to the contribution of the mingei movement, a great number of Japanese handcrafts, including baskets, furniture and cast iron ware, were preserved and are still thriving today.  In the realm of ceramics, Kawai Kanjirō's legacy extends far and wide, and a small handful of his descendants continue producing pottery to this day.

Among them is his great-grandnephew, Kawai Akiteru.