Yukico Yamada Sculptural Vase A14

Dimensions: W 22cm x L 22.5cm x H 36cm 

Materials: Sandstone

Method:  Hand built, carved, lightly glazed and fired in an electric kiln.

Care: Functional, hand wash and dry after use.

Description:

Bold brutalist forms meet the quiet elegance of Japanese craftsmanship. Each handmade ceramic piece is carefully carved in Yamada’s workshop, featuring a range of soft natural tones and a stone like texture that enhances their striking sculptural silhouettes. Sharp lines and oblong shapes contrast beautifully with delicate, organic details, while a rich matte finish and intricate mark-making reveal the energy of the artist’s process.

The intriguing series showcases a considered navigation of playful character and timeless, confident grace, where each piece has story and personality of its own. With a balance of strength and subtlety, Yamada’s work transforms everyday objects into sculptural statements - capturing the essence of understated beauty with a sultry, grounded calm.

About the Artist

Based in Tamba, surrounded by nature’s quiet beauty, Yukico Yamada draws inspiration from her surroundings to create earthy, minimalist ceramics. Exhibiting internationally since her first solo show in Kyoto in 2019, Yamada’s practice fuses elegance with irregularity, expressing the essence of her rural Osaka upbringing and her deep connection to the natural world.

“My source of inspiration has no concrete form; but if I am attentive to the moment in front of me, I realise it is full of wondrous things, and that gives me ideas for the form and texture of my works.”

Her earthy, brutalist body of work observes nature, using skilful hand building techniques, subtle glazes and electric kiln firing to express an interpretation of her surrounding landscape. She has a desire to express the quiet poetic moments of observation in her ceramics, breathing the smell of the earth, and listening to the grass swaying in the breeze.