Member Interview
Taka Unno
Hello There! I’m... Taka Unno
My everyday occupation is ... an audio and hearing research engineer. I’ve worked on innovative hearing device projects at a few start-ups and a big tech. It’s fascinating and rewarding to improve our hearing experience.
How did your everyday occupation influence or inspire you in ceramic work ... I’m not sure about inspiration, but my “left-brain”-centric occupation makes me crave for using my “right-brain” in pottery.
I’ve been doing pottery since ... the end of 2020. I started pottery by taking a wheel-throwing zoom class at another studio during the pandemic. A pandemic-day hobby turned into my passion. I guess I also made Japanese monsters like Godzilla with play dough a lot when I was little – but maybe that doesn’t count :)
I would describe my work as ... functional pots with organic forms. My goal is to create flows and natural texture over functional pieces.
The first memorable clay pieces I made were ... ten teapots. In the first year of my pottery journey, I challenged myself to make ten different design teapots in two months (It eventually took four months though).
What inspires you the most? Form, Glazes, Firing, etc ...
Form and texture. The balance of all these processes is important to me. I have been experimenting with the glazing and slip application and firing process to enhance unique forms and textures. Still exploring it ...
What is your soda firing process? I mostly try to follow Stuart Gair’s firing process that we learned in the workshop. Spraying soda between ^9 and ^10 for a matte finish. Oxidation cooling to make flashing slip colors brighter. Besides, I learned to trust human senses such as the smell of gas, sound of burners, etc.
The most memorable ceramic workshop / classes I’ve ever attended ... was a Soda-firing workshop by Stuart Gair. It was my early days of soda-firing training. I didn’t understand what he was going to accomplish very well, but I have been digesting it over a year and that is my most favorite way of firing now. Also, throwing and altering workshop by Dwayne Sackey, in which I learned a basic multi-faceted technique – it became the base of my spiral form works. Lastly, a demo by Shozo Michikawa – it was quite inspiring to see how he creates organic forms using a wheel.
A piece of advice for working in ceramics that helped me a lot was ... My bud/inspiring teacher Scott Jennings always ended his advice with two words, “make more”. It sounds blunt, but reminds me of the importance of iteration. I try to iterate a process until I own it in my way. It may take weeks, months, or sometimes years – and then we go back to the exploration phase.
What do you do to stay a green potter ... I like to use the studio recycled clay. I feel like it’s giving a second chance to clay.
Some artists I admire are ... Ken Matsuzaki, Akira Satake, Marc Lancet.
If I could pick only ONE clay tool for the rest of my life, it would be ... a popsicle stick.
Perfect to make a gallery!
The least practical pot you made ... was an incense stick tray that doesn’t catch ashes.
Interview article and photography by Inhae Lee