§ Artist — Specimen · hijiri-tougane
HIJIRI TOUGANE.
東金 聖
Ceramic & fine artist. Body, time, and the ambiguity of being — inscribed in clay.
Ceramic Artist / 3D Sculptor
Fig. I — Studio portrait / HIJIRI TOUGANE
§ I — Biography · Bio-01
A hand in Mino.
Hijiri Tougane is a Japanese ceramic and fine artist based in Toki, Gifu.
Born in Tokyo, she studied in the UK as a child and went on to study art in the United States after high school in Japan, receiving her BFA in Sculpture from the Academy of Art University, San Francisco, in 2012 — taking 1st place in Ceramics at the 2010 Spring Show and Best of Show at the 2012 Oakwilde Ranch 5th Annual Spring Sculpture Show along the way.
Her practice spans a wide range of expression — from life-sized ceramic figurative sculpture to vessels and abstract sculpture — and she works actively both at home and abroad.
My work moves around three axes: the passage of time, the inheritance of traditional technique, and the ambiguity of human existence.
In my signature life-sized ceramic figurative sculpture, I attempt to inscribe traces of life and the spirit into clay — as a form that endures.
In my vessel series — a contemporary reinterpretation of the traditional Mino technique "gaba-ikomi" — I develop work that questions the boundary between "a vessel to use" and "a sculpture to behold."
More recently, with the "Mononoke Spirit" series, I have been working at the fusion of the artificial and the natural — expressing the contradictions and ambiguities of human existence, and our relationship with nature.
In May 2023 she opened a show-window atelier on Oribe Street — inside THE GROUND MINO, in the Mino district that supported her as an artist. Her stated mission in vessel-making: to create demand for handwork and to encourage successors, so that a technique fading in the age of mass production is felt — "this is beautiful, I want to try this" — and carried into the next generation.
"I believe the possibility of contemporary expression lies precisely in the "awai" — the liminal in-between of dualities: tradition and innovation, spirit and matter, craft and fine art. From that interstice, I continue to make."
§ II — Studio data · Sd-5
By the numbers.
Excerpt — HIJIRI TOUGANE
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N° 01
2012
BFA Sculpture (SF)
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N° 02
3
Bodies of work (2009– )
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N° 03
2023
Show-window atelier est.
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N° 04
K23
Gold lustre, 95% pure
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N° 05
2025
VOGUE × Dior selection
§ III — Method · Mt-5
The process, staged.
From material design to firing — 5 stages of the same hand, repeated.
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01 / 3D Design
3D Design
Using 3D-CAD master-pattern techniques mastered at the Academy of Art University — curves, shadow and wall thickness designed on-screen at sub-millimetre precision.
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02 / Master pattern
Master pattern
The 3D-printed master pattern is hand-finished. The back-and-forth between digital and body produces a particular softness.
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03 / Gaba-ikomi
Gaba-ikomi
A traditional Mino technique: slip poured into highly absorbent plaster moulds solidifies as the water is drawn out. The small objects, pedestals and frames in her work all rise as one body of clay — the only technique that can produce such forms.
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04 / Carving
Carving
For one-of-a-kind work, kiriko-style carving is applied by hand — porcelain polished until light passes through.
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05 / Firing
Firing
Even the cracks and traces of firing are worn as proof of trials survived. Finished with K23 gold lustre (95% pure gold). HINOMIYA collaborations are fired at the ARTBIRTH studio.
§ IV — Manifesto · Mn-3
Three declarations.
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Stmt. 01
Beauty lies in the wounds — the cracks of the crackle glaze are proof of trials survived.
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Stmt. 02
A technique cannot be preserved through mere archival. It continues only when people feel: this is beautiful — I want this — I want to touch this.
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Stmt. 03
Are we part of nature, or an anomaly within it? Can we record our era and leave it to the future? The questions themselves are the core of the practice.
§ V — Selected works · Sw-7
Selected pieces.
7 in archive
Sold out — Past works
§ VI — Series · Idx-9
Index of series.
A dictionary of series, articulated by form, glaze, and scale.
- N° 01
Radiance Beyond Time
Life-size figurative sculpture — press-moulded from life, crackle-glazed; carving "proof of living" into ceramic.
- N° 02
Vessels to Behold
Gaba-ikomi vessels — European furniture and feminine silhouettes, heavy fired-on gold inside.
- N° 03
Mononoke Spirit
Industrial waste fused with feathers, moss and ceramic — life-forms surfacing between the natural and the artificial.
- N° 04
cushion tea cup
Signature series. Diameter for the palm, thinness for the lip.
- N° 05
cushion plate
Designing light and shadow into pillowy curves.
- N° 06
cushion tumbler
Bringing the cushion form into daily vessels.
- N° 07
HINOMIYA (collab)
3D data × pressure casting — co-created with Shota Miyashita.
- N° 08
Custom order
Commissions limited to two per person, with an annual cap. Lead time: six months to a year.
- N° 09
Collector's box
Twelve works with a dedicated box, three slots a year — sold only on a promise of donation to the next generation.
§ VII — Press & exhibitions · Pe-21
On the record.
Exhibitions, publications, collaborations and awards — fragments along the timeline.
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2025
press
VOGUE JAPAN × Dior — selected as a bearer of Japanese savoir-faire
Condé Nast Japan
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2025
exhibition
"Carve, Inherit, Waver" — group exhibition
GINZA SIX, Tokyo
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2025
press
Guest on "WHAT'S ART 2025" (J-WAVE + FM COCOLO × Kyoto University of the Arts)
Radio special
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2024
exhibition
Solo "Nice to meet you, I am Hijiri Tougane." — ~60 new TCs and large works
Kyoto Tsutaya Books, 6F
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2024
exhibition
NEXT2024
Tōshin Mino Ceramic Art Museum (Gifu)
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2024
collaboration
HINOMIYA "kiriko" — co-created with Shota Miyashita
Mino porcelain series
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2023
exhibition
Solo "Endless Waltz"
Shenzhen, China
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2023
exhibition
Solo "SENSUAL CIRCUS"
ART Is. TOKYO GALLERY (Daikanyama)
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2023
press
VOGUE JAPAN January issue — "Tradition and Innovation" feature
Condé Nast Japan
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2023
press
HIRAGANA TIMES December issue / NHK Nagoya feature
Magazine and TV
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2023
press
Show-window atelier established
THE GROUND MINO, Mino Oribe Street
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2022
press
NHK WORLD NEWS — "Modern Artist Makes Minoyaki for the 21st Century"
International broadcast
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press
On J-WAVE "TOKYO MORNING RADIO"
Radio
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2019
exhibition
Solo "REALIZATION"
Seibu Shibuya, Art Gallery
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2018
exhibition
"SHIBUYA STYLE Vo.12"
Seibu Shibuya, Tokyo
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collaboration
Tin design for Chez Shibata (heritage patisserie, Tajimi)
Tajimi
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2014
exhibition
Annual California Conference for the Advancement of Ceramic Art
California
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2013
exhibition
National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts
Houston
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2012
award
Best of Show — Oakwilde Ranch 5th Annual Spring Sculpture Show
California
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2012
press
BFA in Sculpture
Academy of Art University, San Francisco
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2010
award
1st place in Ceramics, "Spring Show" / public art for the San Francisco Zoo
San Francisco
§ VIII — Plates · Pl-6
Plates, selected.
Selected works across the artist's series.
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Pl. 01
Crackle-glazed ceramic arms holding jewelled cups — where sculpture meets vessel.
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Pl. 02
Decorative-pillar cup & saucer — stripes and a treasure hoop of dancing playing cards.
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Pl. 03
Captain teacup & saucer in red and gold — cylinder.
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Pl. 04
Treasure balloon tumbler — black.
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Pl. 05
Aristocrat’s party cup & saucer — orange.
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Pl. 06
From the painting series — between cells and the big bang.
§ IX — Message
A letter, from the atelier.
The Show-Window Atelier and Gaba-ikomi
My vessels are made with the gaba-ikomi technique: liquid clay slip is poured into highly absorbent plaster moulds, which draw out the water and set the form. The small objects, crystal pedestals and picture frames you see in my work are all one continuous body of clay — this is the only technique capable of producing such forms.
Vessels made with this technique once supported the Mino-yaki ceramic industry, astonishing and captivating potteries around the world as "vessels as precious as jewels." Then the era shifted to mass production and mass consumption; manufacturing centred on inexpensive goods for the largest consumer base, and costly, time-consuming handwork gave way to machine production. The industry gathered momentum — but where something is gained, something is lost.
What the industry lost was the technique itself, passed from hand to hand. In recent years, as people spent more time at home, demand for handmade vessels by studio artists grew worldwide — yet the output of individual artists, myself included, is a fraction of industrial production. In 2021 I searched all over the Mino region for a pottery that could produce my vessel works, and what I found was the reality that "the old handwork can no longer be done": decades of declining demand had made the artisans, and then the skill itself, unnecessary. That is when I understood my mission in making vessels — to create demand, and to encourage successors.
Hoping that words like "Making vessels is cool!", "Amazing!", "I want to try!" would arise between the industry and the next generation, in May 2023 I opened the show-window atelier "Miseru Atelier" at THE GROUND MINO, on Oribe Street in the Mino region that had supported me as an artist.
"I want to carry this on with my own hands" — so that people will come to feel this, I keep making.
THE GROUND MINO, 6-2 Honmachi, Tajimi, Gifu 507-0033, Japan
The atelier interior is a working studio and is not open to visitors. Production days are irregular; for project-related visits, please request an appointment via the contact form with details of your inquiry.
§ X — Information · If-2
Notes, practical.
If. 01
Custom orders
Custom orders are limited to a maximum of two per individual, with an annual cap on the number of orders. When placing an order, kindly fill in the details via the contact section. The delivery timeframe is approximately six months to one year from the date of request.
If. 02
The Collector’s Box
From 2025, sets of twelve works are offered with a dedicated storage box. After my absence, sales are limited to those who commit to donating the works to museums or other places that can preserve gaba-ikomi works for the next generation. Three slots are anticipated annually.
§ XI — Links · Lk-2