tsumuguiro/Eri Yamashiro 【Ceramic】

 “People often ask me if I am a ceramic artist or accessory retailer, but it’s never concerned me. I make what I want when I want.” says Eri Yamashiro from Tsumuguiro.

“I make accessories, tapestries and artworks by combining techniques such as home fired pottery parts, weaving, knitting and tying threads.”

She’s always liked making something ever since she was little. Even after becoming an adult, she continued to feel a “sense of art” after she encountered weaving and ceramics.

Let’s see what kind of path she took to combine and express herself through these two crafts.

<The joy of ceramic>

The charm of Tsumuguiro is it’s eye-catching presence. 

“I think people don’t really have opportunities to see large sized accessories made with pottery. Artists don’t make them fearing the high risk of breaking, but I dare to take on the challenge.”

The pure and natural texture of clay, a little playfulness with colour and shape, and rich expressions and smooth textures caused by small shrinkage cracks.

All of these are born from her desire for people to enjoy the unique qualities of pottery.

Making her earrings to completion requires a lot of time and requires precious handwork.

1. Shape the clay and leave to dry.

2. Bake in a kiln at 700℃.

3. Smooth down with a file.

4. Apply water repellent to the back. This will prevent the glaze from step 5 dripping and bonding to the kiln tray during the final baking.

5. Apply a glaze to the surface.

6. Bake for a final time at a temperature of 1220 - 1240℃.

7. Give a final filing to remove any remaining scratches and rough parts.

8. Attach the earring parts and we’re done.

You need to be careful wearing them as they were carefully crafted.

The sensation of weight around your ears encourages confidence good posture, you’ll straighten up your back a little more than usual.

The charms of these earrings is the thrill of wearing such delicate adornments, which make anytime you wear them a precious and fulfilling experience.

<The ups and down of completion>

Individual parts are completed with the final baking.

The season, the temperature, the composition of the soil, the thickness and compatibility of the glaze etc, all these little things make a difference to the end result.

Despite putting in the kiln in exactly the same condition, it is difficult to produce an exact duplicate.

Same common variations you might see are: 

•Iron specks rising to the surface.

•Random crazing (cracks in the glazing) patterns.

This makes for fun and unpredictable results.

“Because I’m naturally a cautious person, it is exciting to have unexpected results.

It is interesting when it doesn’t go as I expected, and these moments make my day.

When I’m rushing to complete an order, it can be a little depressing when the final products don’t emerge exactly as requested. 

Sometimes an entire batch will be all failures.”

It must be heartbreaking to see a whole batch go wrong. However, failures give her new ideas and lead to brand new products.

In the world of pottery, a small difference can become a big difference on a final product.

It must be like an experiment every time.

The trial and error continues throughout the joy and difficulty of working with natural materials.

<My work with my hands>

Because Eri’s mother was a home economics teacher, Eri loved drawing and hand crafting in her childhood.

Eri’s very first job was a graphic designer for a magazine as she had desired to create something for a long time.

Every day was exciting and rewarding, it was her dream job but after a year, perhaps because she was young, she quit and left Tokyo.

Later, she started working as a graphic designer again in her home town of Osaka.

During this busy time of her life, one day her mind changed.

“Working on the computer for a long time changed the idea of “creating”. I started to feel disconnected from the creative process.

I wanted to make whatever I could image, not though a machine but with my hands. I realized I was missing working with my hands.”

Eri’s ideas on “manufacturing” emerged throughout her experience.

When she was searching and trying out a new types of handcrafts, she discovered woven tapestries from overseas.

She found she enjoyed the process of repetition required to assemble a piece together. It was also fun to create within a standard “framework” while also being able to go off freely in any direction and make whatever she wanted.

After that, she had an opportunity to see her product with her new brand name.

At the same time, however, she was struggling to keep her motivation up when she saw the high technical level of the other artists.

In any professions there are higher skilled individuals. This can cause anxiety but I think it’s something all beginners go though. 

<Weaving together the colours of my soul>

“Being an artist working with my own hand, I’ve always admired people who are passionate about the one thing”. said Eri, who’s own fickle desire to pursue multiple disciplines, felt like a negative quality. 

One day, Eri saw a quote from someone who cherished many interests in their heart, just like her.

“I have a lot of things I like, All of the things combined together and become my livelihood. It is cool to master a single thing, but it is also nice when the things you like end up being a job that you enjoy.”

These words made Eri’s heart feel lighter.

“I used to think it was nice to have a single pursuit, but I felt relieved when I realized I don’t have to think that way.

I have experienced many things, so I started to think the only way to express myself is though a combination of those experiences.

This expression is as if all the colours of my soul have been woven together.”

Keeping her eyes open for the things she likes and has interest in, continues to sow the seeds for her future expressions.

Expressing things in more than one way can flex different strengths and also emphasize Tsumuguiro’s individuality.

Eri Yamashiro’s originality emanated over a long time from her experiences and time spent being curious and having struggles.

I am looking forward to seeing how these experiences combine and unfold to create interesting and original work.

She became depressed because of it, but during that time she rekindled an interest in pottery, and joined a pottery class so that she could make her own.

There are variety of people who go to the class for many different reasons. Some people are serious, some are housewives looking for a hobby, and there are people of all ages from five to eighty-five.

The common factor bringing them together is a mutual curiosity of different forms of art, music, etc.

“The encounter there was very stimulating and special to me.

While listening to people’s life stories there and exchanging thoughts with them, my “creative spirits” increased and I became positive about being active.”

One of the things that surprised me about the club was that it’s not ideal for veterans to teach beginners, because once someone teaches you how to do something, you could end up losing your individuality.

Try to do things by yourself, when you fail, learn from your experience and try again. This colours and defines your own style. That process may have been one of the triggers for an explosion of creative expression by her.

Around the same time, she started making pottery accessories.

She incorporated pottery parts into tapestries and created accessories combining ceramics and weaving.

These things unleashed her range of expression.