In the production of Kutani ware, defective pieces inevitably occur during the manufacturing process and have traditionally been treated as industrial waste. The sight of fired ceramics being discarded into containers outside pottery workshops represents an ongoing challenge within the industry.
MIYASOU began this initiative by reexamining this cycle of disposal and reconsidering defective pieces as resources that could be returned to society in a meaningful way. Rather than discarding unfinished Kutani ware, we seek to reinterpret it as a material and reintegrate it into a new cycle of use. One outcome of this approach is the development of paint made from Kutani ware waste.
By crushing fired Kutani ware and reconstructing it as paint, materials that once reached the end of their lifecycle are given a new role. Transforming ceramic waste into a versatile medium opens possibilities beyond traditional ceramics, creating points of connection with architecture, product design, and spatial expression, and serving as a catalyst for collaboration across industries.
By questioning resource use within traditional craft industries and moving toward production that does not assume disposal as its endpoint, Miyasou Pottery continues to pursue sustainable choices that carry the techniques and materials of Kutani ware into the future.