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.

Ceramic Art London 2019

I am delighted to be at this prestigious show, this weekend again. It is my fifth year.

I hope to see you there! My stand is 34.

Ceramic Art London

Open studio weekend

Open studio weekend
3 & 4 November
10-5
1 Foxdown Close
Canterbury
Kent

Room 1

Room 2

Oxford Ceramics Fair and Open Studio

The last two events of the year are coming soon. Oxford Ceramics Fair will be next weekend, 27-28 October and Open Studio, 3-4 November.

Oxford Ceramics Fair is run by the CPA, and exhibitors are mainly fellow and selected CPA members with a group of a few associate members. It is the 19th this year, and I am happy to be a part of it.

Cherry Tree is in the poster and flyers. How nice! Orchard, along with other lovely ceramics, are in the window of Blackwell's Art and Poster Shop, Oxford, to promote the fair. You can purchase them directly there.

I will give a talk and short demo, Sunday afternoon. 2PM.
'Making the invisible visible'. It will be interesting to see if you could understand me. Hahaha!

Full programme: http://www.oxfordceramicsfair.co.uk/programme/

I hope to see you there.

Link: http://www.oxfordceramicsfair.co.uk/

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Open Studio

We are having the second Open Studio, 3-4 November.

10-5 on both days.

1 Foxdown Close
Canterbury
CT2 7RR

Free parking close by.

Mike, Midori and Pearl the whippet will be on duty.

 

New series - Floral calendar

I had wanted to make new series of works since early 2017. But due to commitments and deadlines I was unable to start it; new types of works take a long time to be completed. There are several steps of trying, experimenting and working out how to make technically and, often failures. In January 2018, I allocated a block of time for it. They were Landscape girls. From there I branched out to Floral calendar, they are those I will share today.

The first ones took several months to be completed. But once I found out how to make one after technical problems were solved, I was able to concentrate on making details. Even so, the record hot summer caused headaches during making. As I have shared photos of work in progress, The first four were spoken for before completion. They all went to a nice homes. As I am typing this, June drop is only one available. Details are here.

Floral calendar. I made one by one when I saw those flowers during walks. They are those give me enormous joy during walks around our house, in the garden and in the woods nearby.

Cherry blossom - April
There is a small cherry tree I like very much. It grows in front of an ugly building. But it has the prettiest warm pink flowers of all cherry blossoms. I visit it and talk to it during walks.
 

Cherry blossom - sold

Cherry blossom 

Lily of the valley - May

These beautiful poisonous flowers are in the woods we walk. The scent is so lovely. I also have tender memory of them seen in Hokkaido in Japan when I was about six.

Lily of the valley - sold

June drop - There are lots of tiny applets that fall from apple trees in the garden in June. I feel a bit sad when I see them even though I knew it is good for the tree.  

June drop - Available

Kikyo, Balloon flowers - July

Kikyo is the flower of Japanese summer. They are on summer kimono, wind chimes and lots of things used in summer. When I came to the UK, I missed them so much, I grew them from seeds. They are established now, and come up every year. 

Kikyo - sold

Fairy rings - September
Mushrooms are fascinating. They are closer to animals than to plants, they say. There are lots of various types in the woods. They never fail to amaze me.

Fairy ring - sold

Ceramic Art London 2018

Before and after Ceramic Art London, 23-25 March. I had been hectic. At one point, I thought I might become mad! But I had kept my sanity, just. The result was the best ever. Although it is important to consider all other effects like media, promotion etc. from the prestigious shows like CAL, it is the upmost important to me and, I'm sure, most of others, to have good sales. Some visitors don't realise that how much time and effort as well as costs were put into to do a big show. In my case, literally months' effort.

So we are very pleased that all went very well. Thank you so much.   

Here are those sold at the show.

Departing - sold

Rabbit with Enso - sold

Departing and Rabbit with Enso went to a lovely gentleman. 

Girl with red shoes - sold

Red shoes are always popular. She went to a  lovely couple.

Holly - sold

Holly went to a nice gentleman. I was told she is a secret gift for his wife.

Mad Tea Party - sold

Mad Tea Party went to a ceramic school run by a lovely lady. Afterward I head and saw the photos of the works made by children who were inspired by the mask. How nice!   

Red shoes - sold

She went to a lovely couple.

Rabbit - sold

He has gone to a nice lady who visited with her lovely friends.

Owl - sold

He went to a nice couple. I had known one of them for a few years on Twitter. How lovely!  

Frenchie - sold

Pug - Sold

Frenchie and Pug went together to a lovely lady who lives with Frenchie and pug! 

Magic mushrooms - sold

Magic mushrooms went to a nice lady.

Lotus - sold

Lotus went to a lovely lady. She saw lotus in flower in Japan. How wonderful! 

Lots of small animals have also gone. White rabbits sold out. Anteaters also sold out. It was a great show!

Here is the stand after PV. Already some pieces had gone! We were too late to take photos of them.