Brooklyn-based ceramicist Shino Takeda grew up in Kyushu Island in southern Japan, where her mother, a collector of traditional Japanese ceramics, influenced her profoundly. “My parents named me Shino, after a centuries-old ceramics style,” she explains with a laugh. Needless to say, her future career as an artist was written in the stars. With her brightly colored designs somewhat of an anomaly amid the more subdued tones of Japanese ceramics, Takeda draws inspiration from everything from places to moods. “When I choose the glazes for my ceramics, it really is like my diary,” she says. “I see a beautiful place, taste or feel something and that translates into a color palette.” One such example is Kyoto, a city she loves to visit and which presents an irresistible palette of deep browns and brilliant reds. “There are so many old buildings, thus the deep browns, and you see red lacquer everywhere!” With her artist’s eye, Takeda describes below some of her favorite haunts in Kyoto.
A Walk of Discovery Through Kyoto with Shino Takeda
