Japanese potters challenge wabi-sabi aesthetic at new exhibition

WHEN Yukiharu Furuno’s wife died in 2003, the well-known Japanese ceramicist plunged into depression. He didn’t touch his potter’s wheel for a year – until a fan spoke with him and shook him out of his funk. She said: ‘You can’t make the world spin in the other direction. You have to accept it is going only one way’.” 

Something in her words tugged at him. He thought about the vastness of the universe and the possibility of his wife waiting for him in heaven or some other celestial dimension. He thought of the immense blue sky and the deep blue ocean which she loved. 

He soon returned to his studio and started working again. But something had radically changed. Before his wife’s death, his ceramics were glazed in ashen colours such as browns, greys and muddy yellows. Furuno, who owns a farm, frequently experimented with plants and vegetables that were burnt to create the substances used in the glazing process.