Echoes of Fire – Arita Series is a body of work born from an intimate dialogue between porcelain, flame, and time.

Created during a residency at Kouraku Kiln in Arita, Japan, this collection draws from the precision of Japanese porcelain while gently moving away from its pursuit of perfection. Instead, it embraces unpredictability as an essential part of the process.

Each piece is made using a saggar-firing technique, where the vessel is enclosed within a sealed container filled with organic materials and mineral elements—rice straw, wood, seaweed, dried plant matter, and oxides, including gosu. Many of these materials are locally sourced, grounding the work in its environment.

During firing, flame, smoke, and vaporized minerals move freely within this contained space, leaving unrepeatable traces on the porcelain surface. These marks are not applied, but revealed—formed through a process that resists full control.

The making begins with intention: forms are shaped through wheel-throwing and hand-building, and selected surfaces are treated with oxides or airbrushed layers. But once enclosed and placed in the kiln, the outcome shifts beyond the maker’s command. Fire becomes both collaborator and storyteller. The result is only known when the kiln is opened.

In contrast to the refinement often associated with Arita ware, this work explores a quiet departure from imagery and perfection. It is an invitation to release control—to allow irregularity, movement, and transformation to emerge as part of the final form and surface decoration.

This approach is rooted not only in material exploration, but also in lived experience. Having worked in communities affected by conflict and displacement, I have witnessed how structures built on control and power can shape—and often fracture—human lives.

In the studio, I move in the opposite direction: toward surrender, toward collaboration with forces beyond my control. The kiln becomes a space where outcomes are not imposed, but allowed to unfold.

Interiors are finished with a transparent glaze—satin, glossy, or matte—to preserve functionality, while exteriors remain marked by their passage through fire. Each vessel carries the memory of this encounter: the intensity of heat, the movement of air, and the imprint of minerals.

This collection reflects an ongoing exploration of impermanence, resilience, and the beauty found in what cannot be fully predicted or repeated.

Each piece is singular—an echo of fire, captured in porcelain.