Pursuing an environment to create ideal works
The laurel pattern around the rim of the plate show two alternating leaves which look uniform, but upon closer inspection, the details are slightly different. Comparing it with another plate, the carvings are different. The engraving on the potteries made by Shotoen are all done by hand.
Shotoen was established in 1997. It is currently run by father and son, Mr. Kanji Masamura, the first generation, and Mr. Yuya, second generation, who also works at Yuzangama. Originally, Kanji’s family were potters and manufactured tableware for commercial use, mainly for distribution companies. Kanji, who was more passionate about making utensils than most people started his own business at the age of 45 seeking a more creative environment. His goal was to create original, potteries that can only be expressed by human hands regardless of how long it took to complete. While fulfilling orders from distribution companies, he manufactured a number of prototypes and approached them with proposals. However, they could not get the distribution companies to sell their products due to reasons such as “expensive”, “not suitable for mass production” and “low versatility” and the results were the same no matter how many times they tried. Sometimes he felt depressed about the harsh reality, but he never gave up and continued to make prototypes.
