I have finally finished writing the interview with Yoshinobu Morimoto.
The actual recording was much longer, but the conversation kept going off on tangents (haha).
I’m not a very good interviewer, so I end up straying off the path myself.
Looking back, he was the first artist I really started talking to, and he’s like an older brother to me.
He’s looked after me in so many ways—lending me interesting books, treating me to tonkatsu, and staying up until 3 a.m. talking at his studio.
When I started this blog, he cheered me on, saying, "Go for it!"
There is a weight to Morimoto-san’s encouragement that only someone who works as hard as he does can carry.
The nuance of "someone who works hard" is really ambiguous, but for example, if you look at each of Morimoto-san’s collections, the themes are always different from the last.
He never does the same thing twice.
Even if I say, "This is amazing!" and it’s actually really well-received.
I truly find that attitude incredible.
Things that sell and popular items tend to become standard products. This is true for popular convenience store bento boxes, anime characters, and magazine series, too.
There are many others, but what about Bizen ware?
Some customers say, "This person only makes this," or "I've had enough," or "I'm bored of it."
I understand that it's inevitable given the nature of crafts.
I also understand the sentiment of, "If it sells, what’s the problem?"
But I think the standardization driven by trends and popularity carries a deadly poison.
They say "your greatest enemy is yourself," and I think after you create something amazing, that work becomes a massive hurdle.
And when you stop trying to clear that hurdle, I don’t think you can create anything good.
I believe the customers I mentioned above became disillusioned because of that.
In the midst of all this, I think Morimoto-san is working hard to clear those hurdles.
Of course, in a world where there is infinite expression and as many evaluations, opinions will be divided, and sometimes he will clear the hurdle and sometimes he won't.
However, regardless of those fluctuating evaluations, Morimoto-san’s vector is always aimed at the next challenge.
Watching him from the sidelines, the way his unwavering creative vector meets these shifting evaluations feels almost like watching something massive breathing right there.
I really hope he keeps at it.
By the way, the photos this time are of unreleased mini saggers for "kabuse-yaki" (covered firing) and a covered sake flask, taken beside the kiln.
I wonder what kind of hurdle this flask will become, and what results it will bring.