Rosanjin Kitaoji 1883–1959

Recognized as one of the most important Japanese potters of the 20th century. Rosanjin was a multi-talented, self-taught genius, a master of ceramics credited with reviving that art in Japan.

The Collection of Fukumaru Ceramic & Glass Art Restoration

Shoji Hamada 1894-1978

He was a significant influence on studio pottery of the twentieth century, and a major figure in the Mingei folk-art movement, establishing the town of Mashiko as a world-renowned pottery centre. In 1955 he was designated a "Living National Treasure".

The Collection of Fukumaru Ceramic & Glass Art Restoration

KanJiro Kawai 1890 – 1966

Kanjirō Kawai was a Japanese potter and a key figure in mingei (Japanese folk art) and studio pottery movements. His output was tremendous. He was a master of glazes and performed 10,000 experiments on glazes while still a student at the ceramic divisions of Tokyo Technical College and Kyoto Municipal Institute of Ceramics.

The Collection of Fukumaru Ceramic & Glass Art Restoration

Kokuta Suda 1906 - 1990

Kokuta Suda became one of the most important abstract painters of the Japanese avant-garde. In 1948, Suda joined the Han Bijutsu-ka Kyokai (Han Artists Association) founded by Yoshihara Jiro, and in 1949 was introduced to abstract painting via the influential Hasegawa Saburo.

Suda’s works are held in museum and gallery collections around the world, including the Miho Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the MET in NYC.

The Collection of Fukumaru Ceramic & Glass Art Restoration

Bernard Leach 1887-1979

Leach was a British studio potter and art teacher. He is regarded as the "Father of British studio pottery". Many potters from all over the world were apprenticed at the Leach Pottery and spread Leach's style and beliefs.

The Collection of Fukumaru Ceramic & Glass Art Restoration

Janet Darnell Leach 1918–1997

Janet Leach was an American studio potter working in later life at the Leach Pottery in St Ives, Cornwall in England. She was the first foreign woman to study pottery in Japan and only the second westerner. After returning to the US from Japan, in 1955 she married Bernard Leach.

The Collection of Glenn Lewis

Jomon Period Potery 14,000 - 300 BC

The Collection of Fukumaru Ceramic & Glass Art Restoration

c.1955 Kaneshige Toyo (1896-1967)

Kaneshige Toyo was a potter in Imbe, Japan. He helped to establish the Japan Kōgei Association in 1955 and was deemed a living national treasure in 1956 for his work in the Bizen style ceramics.

The Collection of Fukumaru Ceramic & Glass Art Restoration

Yoko Ono

Yoko Ono Lennon is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter and peace activist.

Anish Kapoor

Kapoor is one of the most influential sculptors of his generation. His work has been exhibited worldwide and is held in numerous private and public collections, including the Tate Gallery, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Reina Sofia in Madrid and Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.

Takuo Kato 1917-2005

Takuo Kato was born into a family of pottery masters dating back to the late Edo period, Kato studied ceramic art under his father Kobe Kato, and in 1965 traveled to Finland to continue his studies. His works were accepted for the Nitten (Imperial Art Exhibition) for seven successive years from 1956, designated a Living National Treasure.

The Collection of Fukumaru Ceramic & Glass Art Restoration

Makuzu Kōzan II 1842-1916

Makuzu Kōzan II was a Japanese ceramist. He was appointed artist to the Japanese Imperial household and was one of the major potters of the Meiji Era. From 1876 to 1913, Kōzan won prizes at 51 exhibitions, including the World's Fair and the National Industrial Exhibition.

The Collection of Fukumaru Ceramic & Glass Art Restoration

Nancy Daum

Daum is a crystal studio based in Nancy, France, founded in 1878 by Jean Daum (1825–1885). His sons, Auguste Daum (1853–1909) and Antonin Daum (1864–1931) oversaw its growth during the burgeoning Art Nouveau period. Daum is one of the only crystal manufacturers to employ the pâte de verre (glass paste) process for art glass and crystal sculptures, a technique in which crushed glass is packed into a refractory mould and then fused in a kiln.

The Collection of Fukumaru Ceramic & Glass Art Restoration

Yoko Ono and Vancouver Art Gallery

A special collaboration event with Yoko Ono exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Wayne Ngan 1937-2020 

An important Canadian potter, sculptor, painter and educator, Wayne Ngan was born in Canton, China and immigrated to Richmond, British Columbia, Canada in 1951. He has lived on Hornby Island, B.C. since about 1967 and also spends time in Vancouver, Canada, and Guangzhou (formerly Canton), China. His pottery is in the collections of numerous museums and his works have been widely exhibited in Canada and internationally. 

Axel Ebring 1869-1954

Ebring was an individual who typifies the development of the Canadian west: he brought his European-learned pottery skills, but firstly tried various lifestyles in farming and mining. He finally established a pottery studio and business, dug out his clay materials, produced his ware, and developed his markets.

The Collection of Fukumaru Ceramic & Glass Art Restoration

Glenn Lewis

Lewis is a Canadian cross-disciplinary contemporary artist.  In 1969, Lewis was commissioned by the Canadian government to create a work of art for Expo '70 in Osaka, Japan. Artifact, a sculptural ceramic work, was ultimately not shown, because it was thought by the commissioner of the Canadian pavilion to be obscene. As a co-founding member of the New Era Social Club, Intermedia, and, in 1973, the Western Front, Lewis was one of an internationally recognized group of artists who established social practice as an artistic medium in Vancouver.

The Collection of Franc Gallery, Vancouver

Heinz Laffin

Laffin studied at the Vancouver School of Art from 1958 to 1963 under Robert Weghsteen and at the UBC Summer School in 1960 under John Reeve. From 1963 to 1967, he and Wayne Ngan shared a residence in Vancouver and teaching duties at the Vancouver School of Art, where they instructed from 1965 to 1967.

Dame Lucie Rie 1902–1995

Lucie Rie was an Austrian-born British ceramics artist. Rie’s works, usually consisting of hand-thrown pots, bottles, and bowl forms, are noteworthy for their Modernist forms and her use of bright colors.

The Collection of Michael Henry

Charmian Johnson 1935-2020

Charmian Johnson’s primarily works with ceramics but has also worked with ink on paper drawings and painting. Having apprenticed with Glenn Lewis and Mick Henry during her graduate studies at UBC she is directly tied to their philosophies linked to Bernard Leach and Japanese Pottery.

The Collection of Bryan Mulvihill

Michael Henry

Henry was an apprentice of Bernard Leach at St.Ives in England. He is one of the important potters who formed an integral part of the West Coast studio pottery movement that flourished during the 1960s and 1970s and produced a legacy of ceramics equal to any other in the world.

The Collection of Heinz Laffin - Jug

The Collection of Glenn Lewis - Pot

Gwyn Hanssen Pigott 1935–2013

Gwyn Hanssen Pigott was an Australian ceramic artist. She was recognized as one of Australia's most significant contemporary artists. By the time she died she was regarded as "one of the world's greatest contemporary potters".

The Collection of Michael Henry

John Reeve 1929-2012

John Reeve called him the ultimate gypsy potter. Warren MacKenzie remembers him as “my best double”. His talent and charisma inspired potters across the US, Canada and England. His enigmatic journey is explored alongside his work in porcelain, stoneware and earthenware.

The Collection of Michael Henry

Warren MacKenzie 1924–2018

MacKenzie was one of America’s greatest potters and an inspiration to younger generations. Having apprenticed at the Leach Pottery in 1952, MacKenzie brought the Mingei aesthetic to the St. Croix Valley where it took root and spread. An inspired teacher, MacKenzie embodied the philosophy, impressing young potters with a dedication to the ideals of simplicity, serviceability and rough beauty. His work is collected by the world’s finest museums.

The Collection of Glenn Lewis

William Bill Marshall 1923–2007

Bernard Leach's foreman, an expressive potter influenced by Japanese aesthetics.

The Collection of Glenn Lewis

Kenneth Quick 1931-1963

Kenneth Quick, cousin to William Marshall and uncle to Scott Marshall. He joined the Leach Pottery in 1945 to make standard ware, and was regarded as one of the most promising of the three apprentices. In 1955 he left to set up his own pottery, Tregenna Hill Pottery in the street of the same name in St Ives. After his return from a six month teaching visit to the USA in 1960, he was persuaded to return to the St Ives Pottery. On a Leach Pottery sponsored visit to Hamada's pottery in Japan in 1963, he was drowned in a swimming accident.

The Collection of Glenn Lewis

Yu Geun-Hyeong 1894 – 1993

Yu Geun-Hyeong (유근형 ; 柳根瀅) was a master Korean ceramist and played a leading role in the revival of Goryeo celadon. He was honored by the government as a Living National Treasure as a holder of Intangible Cultural Property No.13 of Gyeonggi Province.

The Collection of Fukumaru Ceramic & Glass Art Restoration

Ohi Chozaemon IX 1901-1986

Ohi Chozaemon IX was born in Kanazawa and worked in his father's studio after completing the ceramics course at Ishikawa Prefectural Industrial School. Studies in Zen Buddhism at Empukuji Temple in Kyoto may have influenced his work. His tea bowls are included in the collection of the Imperial Household.

The Collection of Fukumaru Ceramic & Glass Art Restoration

Yuzo Kondo 1902–1985

Kondo was a highly celebrated Japanese ceramist working in the blue-and-white porcelain, for which he was designated a Living National Treasure in 1977.

The Collection of Fukumaru Ceramic & Glass Art Restoration

Hiroshi Kondo

Ceramic artist. Active in Kyoto. Second son of the Important Intangible Cultural Property Holder (Living National Treasure) Kondo Yuzo (1902-1985).

The Collection of Fukumaru Ceramic & Glass Art Restoration

Yuzuru Sasaki

The Collection of Sida Chen

Miura Chikusen IV 1911-1976

Chikusen Miura IV was a Japanese Asian Modern & Contemporary ceramist who was born in 1911.

The Collection of Fukumaru Ceramic & Glass Art Restoration

Damian Moppett

Damian Moppett (b. 1969, Calgary, Alberta; lives/works: Vancouver) has long been engaged with the processes and materials of painting and sculpture, and their histories, which he uses for the construction of his own vernacular. In his work, Auguste Rodin and Mike Kelley hold court alongside amateur ceramics and humourous interpretations of classical modernist sculpture.

The Collection of Damian Moppett

Jeremy Laing

Jeremy Laing is a Canadian fashion designer based in Toronto, Ontario who launched his eponymous brand in 2005. Beginning with a low-key show during New York Fashion Week, he has established a reputation for sharp tailoring, geometric construction and draping and layering techniques.

The Collection of Jeremy Laing

Mette Wullum 

Mette Wullum immigrated to Canada from Denmark and moved to Hornby Island where she practiced graphic design and ran a gallery and shop, Island Potters, featuring the work of ceramicists from the Gulf Islands, particularly Hornby Island and Denman Island. Wullum studied pottery with Gerhard Kozel and Heinz Laffin during the 1980s and opened her own studio with the support of her partner Kozel.

Gerhard Kozel 1939–2017

Gerhard Kozel was an early British Columbia studio potter who immigrated to Canada from Germany, producing pottery during the 1970s alongside Daniel Materna (d.u.) and Meg Buckley (1931–2020) at Tansar Crafts in Vancouver.

Bryan Mulvihill

Bryan Mulvihill, aka Trolley Bus, has been supporter of and inspiration to OBORO for the past 25 years. He has dedicated himself to the study of calligraphy and eastern scholarship working with masters in Canada, India, Japan, China and wherever his pilgrimage brings him. Educated in fine arts at UBC under Tom Borrows, Roy Kyooka, Glenn Lewis, and Asian art masters, Mulvihill combines his philosophical studies with his conceptually based practice.

Lam Wong 王藝林

Lam Wong is an artist, designer and curator based in Vancouver, BC. An immigrant from Hong Kong during the 1980s, Wong studied design, art history and painting, both in Alberta and British Columbia. He is currently practicing painting and tea-related artwork as his main media. Wong sees art-making as an ongoing spiritual practice. His main areas of interest lie in the perception of reality, the meaning of art, and the relationships between time, memory and space.