TRAILER for feature documentary looking at how Akiko Hirai became one of the world's leading potters. WATCH FULL FILM • Akiko Hirai: 'Mark of ... and www.goldmarkart.com
“Ceramicist Extraordinaire”
- Vanity Fair
“You have a visceral reaction when you hold her pieces”
- The New York Times
“Another Rising Star”
- The Guardian
"My pots display a lot of marks and traces of past events. To describe them in a conventional and very simplified way, they are 'dirty' and 'broken'.
I have acquired a lot of 'marks' in my life like my pots. Because of them, I have found that life's obstacles are not really a bad thing, and that I quite like these marks that I have - Akiko Hirai
I graduated from my university ceramics course here in the UK in 2003. That same year, I found a studio at The Chocolate Factory, London N16. It is 2021 this year, meaning I have been here for almost 18 years, and this is the place where I have spent the longest and happiest time of my life. I have had bumps and blips like everyone else during that time. My husband Jason sometimes says, in a slightly sarcastic way, that my life has been very eventful. Around my mid-20s, I gave up my regular job in Japan and came here, to a foreign country, without much language or money. I volunteered in a homeless hostel for 8 months, and then decided to change my career completely to the field of ceramics, which was entirely unknown to me, when I was nearly 30 years old. To a sensible English person my life must look preposterous. I was, and maybe am, naive, gullible and clumsy, so I have acquired a lot of 'marks' in my life, like my pots. These are the marks made when I come across life's obstacles. Luckily, I have been helped by so many people in so many ways and I am grateful to have met them. Because of them, I have found that life's obstacles are not really a bad thing, and that I quite like these marks that I have.
Goldmark Films is the four-times Royal Television Society Award nominated independent film making arm of the world-renowned Goldmark Gallery. It has been producing broadcast arts documentaries for over 20 years and has made 24 feature length documentaries and 100 plus shorts. Goldmark's global reputation allows it to gain intimate and revealing interviews with some of the world's leading artists, ceramicists, writers and critics. Its films on contemporary artists are complemented by a stable of programmes unveiling the fascinating life stories of both the famous and the forgotten painters, potters and sculptors of the 20th century.
A family business, Goldmark have been selling art from our Gallery in Uppingham, UK for more than 50 years and hold over 50,000 items in stock. Explore a wide range of art, ceramics, sculpture, books, and DVDs all available to you through our website www.goldmarkart.com
4 июл 2024
