Tobeyaki blues: a new Shiro Ao pottery line, from Japan’s Shikoku island

Ever since Bernard Leach started introducing Japanese pottery to the western world in the early 1900s, the form has enjoyed international acclaim. The many communities of potters scattered around Japan are always well worth a visit and those in Tobe city, in northwest Shikoku, are no exception – especially given a newly launched Shiro Ao ('White Blue') line of bowls, cups and plates.
Under the creative leadership of local architect Shuzo Okabe and with a history of more than 230 years of experience, three young potters have joined together to produce a simple line of Tobeyaki (Tobe pottery) ware, with an inaugural offering comprising seven different bowls, five sizes of plates and a couple of cups.
Tobeyaki is known for the bright white sheen (afforded via the locally sourced uebi pottery stone) and contrasting blue colours that have made the brand's name. The bowls and plates are all hand painted with simple indigo lines or decorated using wooden seals with simple motifs, like flowers and fish. A series of special editions are also being developed in collaboration with a number of local artists, such as the 'Joshua Blue' line with gradiated blues by Yoshito Takenishi and the slightly deformed cups by Asato and Fujio Ikeda.
The non-intrusive colours and constantly evolving variation of shapes and sizes means that you should have no problem finding a perfect fit for your next Japanese-inspired dinner party.
Literally translated as ’White Blue’, the Shiro Ao company comprises three young potters, working under the creative leadership of local architect Shuzo Okabe
Together, they have produced a simple line of Tobeyaki (Tobe pottery); the initial offering includes seven different bowls, five sizes of plates and a couple of cups
Tobeyaki is known for the bright white sheen (afforded via the locally sourced uebi pottery stone) and contrasting blue colours that have made the new brand’s name
The slightly weighted bowls and plates are all hand painted with simple blue indigo lines or decorated using wooden seals with simple motifs
A series of special editions are also being developed in collaboration with a number of local artists
INFORMATION
For more information, visit Shiro Ao’s website
Photography courtesy Shiro Ao
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Originally from Denmark, Jens H. Jensen has been calling Japan his home for almost two decades. Since 2014 he has worked with Wallpaper* as the Japan Editor. His main interests are architecture, crafts and design. Besides writing and editing, he consults numerous business in Japan and beyond and designs and build retail, residential and moving (read: vans) interiors.
-
This Canadian house is a precise domestic composition perched on the Nova Scotian coast
Bishop McDowell completed a new Canadian house overlooking the Atlantic, using minimal details and traditional forms to create a refined family home
-
‘With a small gesture of buying a postcard, we all become copyists’: the Louvre’s celebration of copying speaks to human nature
Contemporary artists are invited to copy works from the Louvre in a celebration of the copyist’s art, a collaboration with Centre Pompidou-Metz
-
Serious cyclists now have serious options, courtesy of two new models from Canyon
With two new bikes, the Endurace: ONfly e-bike and Endurance: AllRoad, Canyon is innovating with both price and performance
-
Lois Samuels’ ceramics invite us to find beauty in imperfection
On view at Twentieth in Los Angeles, the artist’s unglazed ceramics explore ‘life’s intricacies and magic’, she says
-
2025 Loewe Foundation Craft Prize winner announced as Kunimasa Aoki
The Japanese sculptor describes his work as ‘50 per cent tradition and 50 per cent innovation’
-
FMG’s technical ceramics, an astronaut, and a brave new world: watch the campaign
With its Live New Worlds campaign, FMG Fabbrica Marmi e Graniti, Italy’s premium porcelain stoneware specialist, explores new strata of creativity
-
Tokyo design studio We+ transforms microalgae into colours
Could microalgae be the sustainable pigment of the future? A Japanese research project investigates
-
Ludmilla Balkis’ organic, earthy ceramics embody the Basque countryside
The sculptor-ceramicist presents a series inspired by and created from found natural objects in a New York exhibition
-
Nature sets the pace for Alex Monroe’s first sculpture exhibition
The British designer hops from jewellery to sculpture for his new exhibition at the Garden Museum, London. Here, he tells us why nature should be at the forefront of design
-
Inside the world of Tapio Wirkkala, the designer who created masterpieces in remotest Lapland
The Finnish artist set up shop in an Arctic outpost without electricity or running water; the work that he created there is now on display at a retrospective in Japan
-
Naoto Fukasawa sparks children’s imaginations with play sculptures
The Japanese designer creates an intuitive series of bold play sculptures, designed to spark children’s desire to play without thinking