There are those dedicated people who make a conscious effort to “collect”. They research avidly, read, study, visit galleries, shows and fairs, adding to their collection. Art, furniture, cigar holders, letter openers….whatever.
I am in real admiration of this because with the general mayhem and chaos that a family brings, the thought of collecting anything other than sweet wrappers is petrifying. I see another slight problem. Space. Where to house that beautiful Louis XV bureau? Or those stunning antique platters? After all, you want to see your collection on display. Now I understand the appeal of collecting miniatures. It is practical and aesthetic.
Well hold on to your hats, I have an idea.
Pots. But not just any old pots.
See these?
Nice eh?
How about these…
I could have them all….but where on earth to display them?
Well, that is not such a problem since each pot is no larger that a few centimetres high.
Edmund de Waal meets Mrs Pepperpot
The Borrowers meets the Terracotta Army (look at the last two images and you’ll see what I mean).
Studying ceramics in Japan, Yuta Segawa was encouraged by his tutor, to develop his interest in miniature pottery, so he went off to Jingdezhen, (historically the capital of Chinese ceramics), to learn what he could from this ancient craft.
He later developed great admiration for the miniature works of Stig Linberg and Berndt Friberg, and like a lot of really good artists, he takes an idea and adds his own distinct flavour. In creating his miniatures, every piece is moulded and shaped, quite literally, by a huge reverence for the cultures of Japan and China. He is highly respectful of their intertwined ethnicity and history, spending many hours devouring history books. This understanding, combined with his knowledge of their ancient ceramic techniques, gives us these beautiful little pots.
As he says himself,
“Great traditional knowledge and techniques help us to make new things.”
He creates tiny pots with traditional techniques. Why bother? Well, he says,
“It is challenge to test the limits of what a human body can make on such a small scale….making miniature pots has a mysterious charm for ceramic makers.”
The beauty of these miniatures for a collector, other than the charm factor, is their versatility. You can have one, fifty, a hundred and fifty or thousands. You can collect by colour, size, shape, glaze or just by random choice. All will be up on a wall, far away from children, scooters, animals etc. We should all start collecting, it isn’t difficult, we just need to keep focused on what we like as this will be the thread that binds our collection, and makes it unique. Like a fingerprint. Or a snowflake.
And I am not the only one who thinks so….
“I am excited that my miniature pots will be displayed in collector’s cabinets around the world in the future.”
All images courtesy of Yuta Segawa