Akemi Kawai

• Category
  Ceramics
• Techniques
  Bizen ware
• Born
  1956 -
• Based in
  Okayama
• Membership
  Associate member, Japan Kogei Association
  

Style

Creating fun and beautiful pieces using various techniques such as openwork carving, chamfering, hand building etc. For dishes, I try to make them light and comfortable to use. For flower vases, I try to make something that harmonizes with the flower to create a natural "beauty".
I use a special Bizen clay called hiyose and fire it for 10 days, 10 nights with pine wood. The vessel comes out in a beautiful red color.
I devote myself to each and every piece and make each piece carefully with all my heart.

Biography

• Grandchild of Touko Konishi
  Graduated from Musashino Art University Junior College of Art and Design
  Trained at Okayama Prefecture Institute of Industrial Research, Ceramics Center
  Studied under Shunzan Kanai and Tomoyuki Matsui
• 1978
  Selected for the Women's Association of Ceramic Art Exhibition (selected 11 times from this year onward)
• 1980
  Selected for the Issuikai Ceramics Exhibition (selected 8 times from this year onward)
• 1994
  Specially selected for the Flower Vessel Exhibition (8 times from this year onward)
• 1995
  Selected for Nissin Foods Contemporary Ceramic Art Noodle Bowl Exhibition
• 1997
  Selected for the Flower Vessel Exhibition without being judged
  Invited to submit to the National Selected Excellent Artists' Exhibition at the Tableware Festival, Tokyo Dome
• 2006
  Selected for the Chūgoku Traditional Kōgei Exhibition (selected 10 times up to 2019)
• 2010
  Selected for the 57th Japan Traditional Kōgei Exhibition
• 2015
  Sponsored to submit to EXPO 2015 Milan
• 2016
  Selected to submit to Milano Salone 2016 (7th place among 60 items in the popularity vote)
• 2019
  Selected to submit to "Designs and Techniques of Contemporary Japanese Ceramics 2019"
• 2020
  Selected for the Chūgoku Traditional Kōgei Exhibition
  Ceramics exhibition at Yokohama Sogo

Awards

• 1996
  Received the Grand Award at the Flower Vessel Exhibition (3 times from this year onward)
• 1998
  Received the Incentive Award at the Women’s Ceramic Art Exhibition
• 2009
  Received the Ishinomaki Mayor Award at the Sosaikai Exhibition
• 2010
  Received the Excellence Award at the Sosaikai Exhibition
• 2011
  Received the Kyoto Governor Award at the Women's Association of Ceramic Art Exhibition