Beasties You’ll Love!

Little Beastie with Aqua Circle Pot

We love to support local artists at Potted and Jen Kuroki’s cute, modern and slightly quirkyBeasties are just that perfect blend of kitch and design.

Beasties available at Potted

Jen E, born Jen Kuroki, has been a student and educator of ceramics for over 10 years, in LA and abroad. Three of those years she spent living in Yokohama and Tokyo, studying under and working besides two Japanese potters, Kawaide Hisao (Nagoya) and Funakoshi Tamotsu (Nagano). She was trained to throw on a banding wheel and to man an anagama (wood-burning kiln).

Her time in Japan allowed her to develop her whimsical style, incorporating the vernacular of contemporary visual culture with a sense of tradition and history. She is an enthusiast of the Japanese concept of shibui, which refers to a certain aesthetic of simple, subtle and subdued beauty.

Bruiser Beastie from Artist's Collection

In addition to being a potter, Jen E is also an art director and graphic designer. Her influences range well outside the world of ceramics which include Jaime Hayon, Mike Perry, Haruki Murakami, Olle Eksell, Isamu Noguchi, Sonia Delaunay, Cody Hudson, Mika Ninagawa, Lucie Rie. She tries to maintain a rotating reference pool of product designers, traditional craftspeople, textile designers, writers, video artists, architects, as well as other potters and many other art and design producers.

Planter Beastie from Artist's Collection

Jen E strives to make her work accessible. Each piece is handmade, using a variety of clays and glazes. No piece is like another and the imperfections become significant, highlighting the one-of-a-kind uniqueness. Her work is functional and it’s in their utilitarian capacity that art and craft become one.

On my fireplace.

So if you’re looking for a holiday gift that’s unique and locally crafted, please give Jen’s little Beastie’s a try. You won’t be sorry.

Tags: Beasties, bud vase, Circle Pot, Gift, Jen E, Jen Kuroki, locally crafted, Modern Ceramics, vase

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 11th, 2011 at 7:58 pm and is filed under Post. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.