Two years in the making, this latest Goldmark documentary film finds Japanese born potter Akiko Hirai at work in her London studio. The rise in popularity of Hirai’s work has been meteoric and she has now has sell-out exhibitions all over the world.
Hirai is renowned for creating Moon Jars – a traditional Korean vessel that she reinterprets with her own style. The film captures her unique approach to creating these jars, which involves intentionally subjecting them to stress and hardship, resulting in a texture that resembles drowned treasure unearthed from some imaginary shipwreck.
The film explores Hirai’s cognitive psychology background and how she infuses theoretical ideas into her work, making it bristle with feelings and sensations. It also touches on how she incorporates the viewer’s perception and imagination into her art, as well as her philosophy that a vessel is the sum of a fine balance between object, environment, and viewer.
In this inspirational film we hear from Akiko about her early life, her struggle to come to terms with her parents’ influence, living in a foreign country and her inevitable movement towards ceramics. The film culminates with shots of her beautiful and remarkable pots in an exhibition setting.
