Film ‘Kasama-Yaki’ (Made in Kasama) by Yuki Kokubo

We’d like to congratulate Yuki Kokubo on raising the funds to create her film ‘Kasama-Yaki’ (Made in Kasama). The film documents the lives of her parents, Katsuji and Shigeko Kokubo, two potters living in Ibaraki prefecture, and the impact the triple disasters on March 11, 2011, has had on their lives.

Yuki will document their participation in two large craft fairs as a way of illustrating the effect of the disasters not only on the lives of potters, but on Japan as a whole.

Her father describes how it is in the Japanese people’s blood to be prepared for earthquakes but that nothing could be done on March 11. Revealing how strongly the events on this day have touched him, he says ‘What a time we live in. The power of the waves, the force of nature is overwhelming. I felt like the world had changed. It’s a like a scar in my heart. I’m in shock, still. Maybe I’m still stuck in a state of shock. Even when I’m working, it’s always on my mind.’ Particularly poignant for me were her mother’s words: ‘People who make things pull themselves up by creating. If we stopped making things, our lives would be over.’

Surely this is a deeply felt sentiment for all of us who are makers. Through selling what we create, we hope to help those potters who struggle to or are unable to do this at present. Please join us to help potters get back on their feet by exhibiting or purchasing work on our gallery. (N.F.)

Link:Film: Kasama-Yaki