Takuya MURATA
LIVING WITH TEA - DIALOGUE

After our last show three years ago, we are excited to present a new ceramic exhibition with Murata Takuya. The exhibition brings together two distinct sides of his work, offering a glimpse into the full breadth of his creative practice.

The beauty of Murata’s tea ware lies in its flawless forms — pieces so perfectly realized they seem to stop your breath. Thinly thrown porcelain cuts through the air in clean outlines, catching light and shadow beautifully. This combination of delicacy and tension, which only porcelain’s hardness can permit, seems to be a natural gift of Murata’s. Trained by his grandfather and father, he carries the rich foundation of traditional Kyoto artisanal work, and that mastery shows in each of his wheel-thrown pieces.

Tea ware — especially the small teapots, where he expresses his mastery shows at its finest — must be both beautiful and functional, all within something small enough to hold in your hand. For this show, Murata brings a fresh approach to sencha teapots and bowls, creating pieces that are a genuine pleasure to use at the tea table.

While working toward this exhibition, his hands have from time to time pulled him somewhere else entirely. Grasping the porcelain and throwing it on the wheel without constraint, he has made a series of larger vessels that are wild by comparison — warped, punctured as if struck by a sudden gust of wind, torn open, almost impossible to touch. These pieces seem to test the material’s very limits and challenge formal restrictions, yet each one holds together with a surprising sense of balance.To us, both poles of this exhibition reveal the ever-delicate balance of tension and release that every deeply committed artisan must find — and realize — day by day.

We hope you’ll enjoy seeing both sides of Murata’s world in this exhibition, and that you’ll find a beautiful piece to bring home with you.

Takuya MURATA | 村田匠也
Born in 1982 in Kyoto, Japan
Graduated from Kyoto Prefectural College of Ceramic Technology in 2004
Graduated from Craft Technology Center of The Kyoto Municipal Industrial Technology Research Institute in 2005
Currently working at his studio in Kyoto