§ Artist — Specimen · shota-miyashita
SHOTA MIYASHITA.
宮下 将太
Innovative ceramic artist. Embodying a new era of pottery from a studio in Mino.
Founder, ARTBIRTH Inc.
Fig. I — Studio portrait / SHOTA MIYASHITA
§ I — Biography · Bio-01
A hand in Mino.
His career began with what he called "street solo shows" — works displayed on a furoshiki cloth in public spaces.
A contemporary ceramic artist who has placed "brewing" (chōgō) at the core of his practice, building a style unbound by convention through team production and cross-genre collaborations with artists and industries.
Based in the Tōnō region of Gifu — the heart of Mino-yaki — he selects raw materials from around the world, blending them with 0.001-gram precision and firing them under 1 °C-resolution control. From this research has emerged a body of distinctive crystal-based glazes.
Grounded in tradition, his work pursues forms and surfaces that fuse contemporary sensibility with experimentation. By incorporating master-pattern design with 3D data and industrial techniques such as pressure casting, he moves freely between artistic expression and industrial production — handling everything from one-of-a-kind objects to series ware made for continuous production.
Today he works across collaborations with other fields, OEM, architecture and spatial direction. Through the back-and-forth between industry and personal expression, he is drawing attention at home and abroad as a "ceramic artist for a new era" — proposing fresh value and new methods of renewing traditional craft.
"I think of ceramics as a "supernatural artifact." Humans try to control nature, yet a part of it always remains beyond their grasp. It is that very chance — that serendipity — that fascinates both the maker and the user."
§ II — Studio data · Sd-6
By the numbers.
Excerpt — SHOTA MIYASHITA
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N° 01
9 yrs
Years in Mino
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N° 02
50 +
Glazes in palette
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N° 03
0.001 g
Glaze precision
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N° 04
1 °C
Firing precision
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N° 05
30 +
Department-store shows
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N° 06
6
Countries shown
§ III — Method · Mt-6
The process, staged.
From material design to firing — 6 stages of the same hand, repeated.
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01 / Material design
Material design
Designing clay bodies and glazes from scratch. Local stoneware and porcelain are blended with recycled materials and metal oxides — back-calculating the properties they should have after firing.
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02 / Forming
Forming
Hand-building, wheel-throwing, slab forming, pressure casting, and 3D printing — chosen by scale. One-of-a-kind pieces and series production share the same studio.
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03 / Glaze
Glaze
More than 50 glazes blended in-house, with material ratios at 0.001 g resolution. Crystals, crackle, kairagi, foam and drip — surfaces composed as physical landscapes.
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04 / Firing
Firing
Firing between 1180 and 1300 °C — switching between oxidation, reduction, electric and gas. Controlled at 1 °C precision so a single glaze can show different faces.
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05 / Industrial
Industrial
Working with Mino factories like Maruchosei-toh and Ichiyō Tōen, translating an artist's sensibility into industrial techniques. Co-creations also extend to AGC and NOT A HOTEL.
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06 / Inspection
Inspection
After firing, every piece is checked for dimensions, glaze pooling, porosity and thermal shock. Only those that exceed our threshold leave the studio under the ARTBIRTH label.
§ IV — Manifesto · Mn-3
Three declarations.
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Stmt. 01
Hairdressing was about realising the customer's wish. Ceramic lets me drop what is in my head directly into form, from start to finish.
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Stmt. 02
What is good about ceramic is that you can fail. After many tests, you put forward the answer you found inside yourself.
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Stmt. 03
The hand of the district and the hand of the artist do not stand opposed.
§ V — Selected works · Sw-324
Selected pieces.
324 in archive
§ VI — Series · Idx-10
Index of series.
A dictionary of series, articulated by form, glaze, and scale.
- N° 01
flora
Curves of petals and the swell of buds, translated into clay.
- N° 02
kaleido
A glaze that shifts through seven colours with the angle of light.
- N° 03
bowl
The centre of the table — its expression shifts with glaze.
- N° 04
maro
A rounded vessel that fits the warmth of the palm.
- N° 05
mug
A stackable mug — function and form together.
- N° 06
tumbler
A cylinder; choose your mood through the glaze landscape.
- N° 07
平盃
A footed sake cup — for marking time differently.
- N° 08
lamp
Translating the kaleido form into a light source.
- N° 09
plant vase
Layered glaze becoming a landscape for the plant.
- N° 10
cutlery
Objects that bring metal to the ceramic table.
§ VII — Press & exhibitions · Pe-11
On the record.
Exhibitions, publications, collaborations and awards — fragments along the timeline.
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2024
press
Collected by Prime Minister Modi (India)
Presented work
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—
press
In the collection of Daitokuji Sōken-in
Kyoto
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2025
collaboration
AGC × TOPPAN porous-ceramics co-development
BRIGHTORB project
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2024
collaboration
NOT A HOTEL — architectural tile co-creation
Architectural brand OEM
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2023
collaboration
G-E-N brand launched
In partnership with Maruchosei-toh and Ichiyō Tōen
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2022
exhibition
HINOMIYA "kiriko" announced
Co-created with Hijiri Tougane
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—
press
Media: NHK / Pen / FIGARO / anan / Ryōri Ōkoku
TV and magazines
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—
exhibition
30+ department-store exhibitions — Isetan Shinjuku, Nihombashi Mitsukoshi, Hankyu Umeda, Hakata Hankyu, Takashimaya
Across Japan
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—
exhibition
International — Shanghai, Beijing, Taipei, Singapore, Dubai, Paris
International
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2020
press
ARTBIRTH Inc. founded
Toki, Gifu
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2017
press
Relocated to Toki, Gifu
Mino-yaki district
§ VIII — Signature glazes · Gz-12
Palette, excerpted.
Glazes that recur in SHOTA MIYASHITA's practice. Selected from a palette of 50 for their emblematic character.
- 黒煌 金属結晶
黒の金属結晶、七色のきらめき
- 真朱 梅花皮
赤の梅花皮、真の朱
- 朽真朱 梅花皮
赤の梅花皮、朽ちる朱
- 海溝 マット結晶
青のマットな結晶、深海の沈黙
- chaos 金属結晶
オーロラの金属結晶、混沌の輝き
- alchemia 金属結晶
ブロンズの金属結晶、錬金術の名残
- albus 結晶
白の艶やかな結晶
- sira マット結晶
マットな白の結晶、雪原の静けさ
- wisteria 結晶
紫の細かい結晶、藤色の雪
- ancient blue マット
青のマット、古代の空
- kawa 梅花皮
黒の梅花皮、皮のような肌理
- melty sepia blue 垂れ
白の垂れ、青にかかる霧
§ IX — Links · Lk-3