Ceramic Studio “豪“（Go）

  Mr. Tsugio Nagai, the owner of the studio、used to work for one of the subsidiary companies of Hitachi, Ltd. In his mid thirties he became a pupil of Mr. Ryoichi Munakata, a ceramic artist in Aizu, Fukushima Prefecture.
After having worked 22 years as an engineer, he left the company and started a new life as a ceramic artist in 1994. The name of his studio “豪“（ Go） is his nickname which was taken from the famous cartoonist “永井豪” (Nagai Go). Though his works covers a wide range from daily tableware to artistic ornaments, he has recently given high priority to make in a spherical shaped ceramic lights. The exhibition of his work under the title “Invitation to the Microcosm” was held at Tenshin Memorial Museum, IBARAKI last September to commemorate the 10th year of his work. His beer mug, which was put up for an ‘Artist Prize’ in the Beer Mug Exhibition sponsored by Sapporo Beer brewery, will be displayed at Sapporo Museum in mid June.

   He is also planning to have an exhibition of his works at the gallery in Ikebukuro, Tokyo in December. He wants to try his luck with ceramic lights in Tokyo where such works are highly rated.
  It is not easy to describe his style in a word as his works include many different shapes and colors designed to match for all the seasons. However, spherically shaped ceramic lights in various sizes are very unique and eye catching. These are baked at 1,250℃.　It is very difficult to keep the lights to a perfect round shape as they collapse easily under the weight of the clay. To avoid this problem, the light is made in the shape of an oval before baking.
  Mr. Nagai also teaches ceramics classes in his studio. At the moment he has 18 pupils. Most of them are in their late forties. He does not tell them what to do. Rather he lets them do as they like and he gives them advice when necessary.
  Our lives are surrounded by too many unnecessary　things these days. But we still want to get something we really like. Maybe you can find what you like in this ceramic studio or you will at least get some idea how to
make the most of ceramics.　
(Open:　8:00am-5:00pm　except　Monday, tel: 0294-52-3778)