【陶芸家・高島慎一】京都・清水焼の職人が手がける伝統的な陶芸の制作プロセスとインタビュー【洸春陶苑×UTSUWA】

I wish I could be as beautiful as a cherry blossom. Everyone says that cherry blossoms are beautiful. I would be happy if I could add a little positive feeling to people's lives. It wasn't a prestigious family, but they were doing pottery in Aichi Prefecture. My great-grandfather came to Kyoto, and he made pottery and ate rice. I was born in a family like that. When I was a kid, my neighbors told me that I looked like my great-grandfather's son. Now that I think about it, I was somehow dragged into the family. However, my father was not an old-fashioned person at that time. I was told that I couldn't make pottery because I was from Tokyo. However, I didn't have to think about pottery in my career. I didn't have to do anything because my father was doing it. If I had to do it, I would go to university. I went to a science school, and I worked in development and marketing. While I was working, there was a time when I didn't feel comfortable in my life. After work, I happened to come back to the office. I didn't hate the smell of the soil or the factory, so I thought this might be my place when I was 24 years old. If I worked, I wouldn't be serious. That's why I came back. When I think of a vessel, a vessel is something to be admired, but I also want to put something in it. I want to eat with this. I want to drink with this. First of all, I have to get what people think. There is an old saying that it doesn't matter if it's food or coffee, but I want it to be useful for people. If possible, I want it to be as beautiful as a cherry blossom. There are no people who don't like cherry blossoms. Everyone says cherry blossoms are beautiful. I don't know why. If possible, I want to make something like that. I want to make something useful. That's my ideal. Everyone says it's beautiful. People often say that it adds color to people's lives. I'd like to add a little positive feeling. I try not to have too much of my own. Of course, I don't have it, but if it's too strong, I don't like to be pressured. There are many elements that can self-express. There are many things to do, but we don't think about self-expression. I don't think about it personally. I want to sell these things at a store. I want to put them in a store. If I can work on all the expectations, That's the best way. I'm becoming better than I thought. It's possible that I'm particular about making things. That's what I'm the most concerned about. This is the time when I'm talking to a person. When I'm talking to someone, I'm in a hurry to do things right. At that time, I would try to do something, or try to do something else. I would think, I've never done something like this before, or it looks interesting. It's like, someone else is coming along, and my energy is slowly building up. And then, when I'm working, I'm moving my hands. I'm like, let's think of something. I'd take out a sketchbook or a blackboard, and I'd go, hmm, but it's hard to come up with anything. I could do it in a rock-n-roll style, or in a movie. But I'd think, maybe I could try doing this. I do that more often. So, I think, when I'm interacting with people, and when I'm moving my hands, I often come up with something. My ancestors told me, don't say you can't do it. You'll lose your patience. If you're expected to do something, or you're relied on, or you're asked to do something, don't say you can't do it. I've been told by a designer, I can't do it, because I'm asking for it. That's why I'm asking you. I've been told that. So, if you can't do it, you have to think about how you can do it. If you can't do it, you can't make things. That's what my father told me, and that's what he told me. It's easy to say you can't do it, but it's your own progress, and there's a lot of hard work, but there's always something you can gain. So, other than physically impossible things, don't say you can't do it. That's probably what my ancestors taught me. What you should do at home is what machines are bad at. What machines are bad at is, for example, making a bowl, and you're told to make it 5mm bigger, you have to change everything from the shoulder to the head. If we're told to make it 5mm bigger, all we have to do is adjust the tool and re-measure it by hand, so that's a little faster than machines. It's more advantageous. But you can change the machine, but you can't do it. That's what machines are bad at. For example, if you're told to make 10,000 firewood, of course you can't do it, but if you're told to make 3 pieces of different sizes, you can measure it and make it. We're better at that than machines. I'd like to think about the warmth of your hands, but there are specific cases like that, so how you can improve that is probably the greatest strength Oh, there's a lot of that. I think about it every day. I still can't think about it. I wonder if I'm in the right place. I wonder if I can do it this way. Of course, there's the trial and error part at the beginning. I still have a lot of support to solve the error. I imagine it to a certain extent, and if I follow this route to a certain extent, I think I can do it this way. I talk about it while I have a clue. I'm still stuck. But the customers are expecting and relying on me, so I can avoid it. I'm like, what should I do? That's the moment when I feel a little pressure. While I'm doing a lot of things, there are a lot of people who are doing business with kimono, but there are industries that are not yet done. I'm working with people who are wearing kimono. There's a job I'm doing I want to spread that kind of thing. It's really a challenge, but there are a lot of challenges we have to overcome. I don't know what to say I want to spread that kind of thing. In this world, for 10 or 15 years want to be able to get a little higher salary than their peers. As I said earlier, making things is one of the wonderful things that so I think those people should be evaluated more and more. Not just me, but people with great abilities should be evaluated more and more. This is what I think as a person who runs KAMAMOTO. I want to be that kind of workshop.