Ceramic Art London 2024 -Stand 109

 Ceramic Art London 2024 will be at Kensington Olympia West. London 19-21. It is a new venue. Having sold out on the second day at the Affordable Art Fair, Battersea last month, I have well prepared for the CAL.

Hope in Pandra's box will be a royal jewel on my stand. 

Fox Girl is one of my heads I have been working for the last couple of years.

I have also various animals big to small. 

 After another cancelation last year, I am well pleased that this very popular show is back. My stand is 109. I hope to see you there! 

Ceramic Art London 2022

 After waiting for two years, the Ceramic Art London has finally happened earlier this month. It was marvelous. I had created show pieces gradually since the last CAL 2019. So despite my shoulder injury, I had more than enough work, mainly big show pieces, for my stand. In February my arm and hand have improved enough to make small masks. Then I tried my luck with standard sized masks. Luckily I was able to complete three masks in time. 

The show was the best ever for me. It was very nice to see my regular customers. It was sheer joy! When I say I feel my customers and clients are friends, I mean it. We keep ourselves to ourselves, and as you might have noticed, I am a hermit. We lead a very quiet life in a corner of this beautiful old city Canterbury. We had not had any socialisation during the pandemics. Only Mike and me, well, the bossy parrot, and sleepy whippet, as well, to be more precise. Mike retired in February 2020, we had to adjust to both his retirement life and the pandemics.

I had worked on commission for wonderful people for the last 2 years. I was able to spend as long as I like on each piece of work. I am very lucky to be able to work for my clients who are understanding and patient. Creating is main part of my life, but when people purchase what I created and they thank me for it, it seems to me that is a whole reason of my life.

When the CAL started, and regular customers and those I knew through Online, and of course new customers descended. The last part of the clouds lifted from my head. Then I realised that with the pandemics and the injuries, I had had a bout of melancholy.

My sales exceeded my best by mid-afternoon on the first day. It was a truly amazing weekend. Especially after I had considered at one point I would have to take a forced retirement, it feels  my next chapter started with fanfare. 

Here are photos of before at PV.

Now my online store is reopened with new work. Check it out. Midori Takaki Online Store

   

 

  

The studio is close until further notice -my online store is open

 As some of you might know from my social media, the studio has been closed since early September, due to the injuries to right shoulder and arm. A full recovery is not expected until early summer. Then I will assess my workload and the types of work I would be able to make. 

I have provided galleries a plenty of work, and there are my work in my online store. The list of galleries is on 'About' page.

I will be at Ceramic Art London 2022 with the work I had made for CAL 2020. So if you will visit, I will look forward to seeing you. 

Thank you!

Empress of terra, at West End House gallery

 

Books 2020

Happy New Year.

After very busy 2019, now I have rested well. I went back to the studio on the third of January despite terrible cold I caught from a gathering. Spring commissions were waiting, and I had to start. Yesterday is the first time I took a day off this year. It sounds lovely, but actually I did house cleaning. It's nice to live in a small house. It doesn't take too long to clean it.

Today I'm going to tell you about the books I have enjoyed last 12 months or so. You might wonder why books? It's because they are important part of my life and also of my creativity. Although I used to be a bookworm in Japan, since I moved to the UK in the 90's I hadn't read enough. But finally reading has come back to part of my life. My main reading time is one month at year end and during illness. So I have just read a couple of books.

There are five books I have truly enjoyed, Uprooted and Spinning silver by Naomi Novik, Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, The song of Achilles and Circe by Madeline Miller.

Naomi Novik is a excellent story teller. She is witty and insightful and her writing is crisp and it has good rhythm. I also like her tempo. I am not patient enough to wait something happening until the middle of the book. I want every page full of magic, especially I don't have much time to read. If Uprooted was a strong chubby small child, Spinning silver was a delicate, complex and more sophisticated adult. Both are about brave females. And I love strong and intelligent females.

  


I liked The song of Achilles a bit more than Circe. I read Circe first, and saw reviews by readers saying Circe is better. So I managed my expectation, but the book exceeded. Marvelous. Achilles was written with a full of aestheticism. I like that. There is the fate, but it won't come in the way it was expected. I had empathy with Achilles because I am a person of principles; I saw myself in Achilles at the end of the story. I read the last chapters three times and I cried three times. Circe was interesting and I enjoyed it enough. I always like those highly talented craftsmen/women in reality or in fiction. I was very attracted to Daedalus. I can't say more without spoiling.

 

Night circus is amazing. I loved it from the first sentence. It is beautifully written. Attention to details is perfect. I had enjoyed floating in the world. if the circus appears suddenly in my city, I would go there every night. When I read the review on the covers afterwards, it says romance. I even didn't notice that it was. It is utterly absorbing. Details are everything. Another superb craftsman in it caught my attention. There is tension in the story all the way through. I almost felt I didn't need the conclusion. It reminds me of an old film called Rondo.



I have also one book about trees I enjoyed so much. I love trees. I am definitely a forest person than a beach person. The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben. Everyone should read.

New online store now open

My new online store is now ready!

There are new works and old favourites. For the first time, all my works big and small are in one place. I hope you enjoy your visits. 

It has taken us one year from the decision to opening. I have been very busy with creating works with lots of deadlines. So I was unable to keep working on our Store project. We are delighted that it has finally opened!

I'm still adding works daily. So please check once a while. 

Midori Takaki Online Store 

Link will be on this blog, and my website.