Hanako Miwa creates stoneware ceramics based on traditional Hagi ware, which she combines with other techniques such as platinum lustre. At the beginning of the video she shows us a new piece that has not been fired yet. It will first need to dry; this step can take a few weeks, depending on the season. She uses local clay from Hagi and from the surrounding area in Yamaguchi prefecture. 

Central to her inspiration is the lotus, a symbol of purity as well as enlightenment in Buddhism. Her ceramics represent lotuses at various times of their life cycle as can be seen with works from the series Spring of Love, Myo, Love Lotus and Yume that are featured in the video. 

An interactive dimension is essential to Hanako’s artistic expression. During the interview, she sits in front of Hanako’s Teahouse 2, a portable tea house that can be dismantled and taken wherever she likes to perform the tea ceremony. Born from her collaboration with two architects, Alex H. Lee and Rikitoshi Yamakawa, the tea house is made exclusively from organic materials (reeds, willow, bamboo, washi paper and silk). 

Credits:
Hanako Miwa's work: all images © Hanako Miwa
Photography credits: Kunihiko Takaoka, Gakuji Tanaka, Clément-Olivier Meylan, Nobuo Shimose, Makoto Matsuno
Views of Hagi: all images by Sophie Richard