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Iconic Japanese potter and designated Living
National Treasure Shoji Hamada, said there were two kinds of pots.
The first he compared to hot house plants, the second to the tree
growing on the mountainside. In his own work he aspired towards
the latter and I, in so much as I am able, have endeavored to do
likewise.
This has involved a particular approach to both work and lifestyle
in general. I knew from the start that what Michael Cardew referred
to as a deliberately willed injection of personality would not do.
This was not the way to make worthy pots.
I had looked at those historical examples I admired and loved so
much, be they sixteenth century Korean, thirteenth century Chinese,
or medieval English, and realized that their essential beauty and
vitality was a direct product of the working environment in which
they were made. I knew that if I was to have any hope of achieving
even a hint of such breadth and character in my own work I would
have to create for myself (in so far as was possible in the late
twentieth century) a similar living and working situation.
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