Tetsuya Ozawa found his calling early on in Junior high school. Born in Tajimi, Gifu Prefecture, which itself has a strong culture in clay, Ozawa now resides in Tokoname after graduating in Fine Arts at Nagoya University. It is not without reverence that Ozawa mentions that after Uni he apprenticed under Yoshikawa Masamichi whose work resides in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.

We've been fortunate enough to meet and visit Tetsuya at his home - a charming old converted farm house in Tokoname, where he lives with his equally talented ceramicist wife Hikari Masuda. Being invited to tea and lunch is wonderful, but visiting his studio is a treasured highlight of any visit we make to Japan.

 

We were struck by Tetsuya's youth - born in 1984 - but overwhelmed by his finesse and the deep seated elegance of his shapes. There is a nod to classicism - restraint and refinement, with the appearance of lightness - but with a modern fresh brilliance wrought into surfaces, which is achieved by his special glazing technique.  His palette is restricted to the colours of the clay in the region - rust, yellow, white, black - and enhanced by 'Kofuki' - a special process whereby Ozawa dusts white soil over the black Tokoname clay forms after firing, scrubbing it back to leave a delicately textured surface. The pieces have the appearance of paper or tin, even - the fineness at odds with the idea of clay.  

Cy Twombly comes to mind, crossed with the scratched and worn walls of Pompeii ... however, we are told that it's Mark Rothko that springs to Ozawa's mind. Wishing to create a peaceful state of mind, where the viewer is invited to interpret the work. 

It's Ozawa's humble approach to his work, mixed with an incredible talent for refinement, elegance, sophistication and beauty that make these forms timeless and coveted the world over. 

WORK @ DEA

Work like Tetsuya's does not happen quickly, and it's also very much in demand the world over. Thus we we normally have only a small selection of his work at any one time.

EXHIBITIONS @ DEA

So far we've had two shows featuring Tetsuya's work along side that of his equally brilliant wife, Hikari Masuda - our latest featuring Tetsuya and Hikari themselves in person.

24 NOV 2023 • Near & Far
23 MAY 2018 • Together In Ceramic Dreams