- Artist or Maker
- Hitomi Hosono
born 1978, Japan, Gifu Prefecture, Tajimi, active United Kingdom - Title
- 'A Leaves Bowl'
- Date Made
- 2016
- Medium
- Porcelain
- Dimensions
- Overall (Diameter): 8 1/16 × 11 5/8 in. (20.5 × 29.5 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.2017.231
- Collecting Area
- Decorative Arts and Design
- Curatorial Notes
In 2008, while studying for a postgraduate degree at London’s Royal College of Art, Japanese artist Hitomi Hosono learned the ceramic technique of "sprigging" through an internship at the 250-year-old Wedgwood factory in Staffordshire. Sprigging is an ancient technique of applying low-relief decoration; its popular name derives from the plant-based motifs produced by European ceramics manufacturers like Wedgewood from the eighteenth century onwards. Once Hosono mastered Wedgwood’s industrial press-mold process, she began to experiment with the properties of the clay. By modifying the clay’s composition to increase its strength and flexibility, Hosono liberated the molded elements from their supporting surface. This technical achievement forms the basis of her ongoing work. In characteristic pieces such as A Leaves Bowl, her organic ornament is so thick that it completely obscures the core and lifts away from the rim as if caught by a gentle breeze.
The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation Associate Curator, Decorative Arts and Design, 2017
