Makoto Yamaguchi

Makoto Yamaguchi is a sixth-generation ceramic artist from Seto, Japan, born in 1978. His father, the fifth-generation potter Masafumi Yamaguchi, apprenticed at the Kasen kiln under Suzuki Goro, and Yamaguchi grew up around visiting potters including Suzuki Goro, Kaneko Jun and Koie Ryoji. He trained under his father before establishing an independent studio in Seto in 2004. His work centers on Oribe, Shino and Kiseto glazed stoneware, rooted in the practice of utsushi — close study and reproduction of traditional forms as a way of internalizing technique rather than simply copying it. He has exhibited since 2007 in the Tokai Traditional Craft Exhibition and the Japan Traditional Craft Exhibition, and received the Mayor's Prize at the Seto City Art Exhibition in 2008, with solo exhibitions in Osaka, Tokyo and Kyoto from 2012 onward.