Hitomi Hosono was born in Kani-city, Gifu Prefecture, Japan in 1978. Educated in Japan, Denmark, and England, she merges traditional Japanese ceramics with Western techniques, notably sprigging, to create intricate porcelain pieces that reflect her fascination with botanical forms. Her work, characterised by delicate, detailed reliefs, tells new stories through the beauty of nature, drawing inspiration from both her memories of Japan and her life in England.
Ceramicist Hitomi Hosono was born in Kani-city, Gifu Prefecture, Japan in 1978. Her early life, surrounded by rice fields, was deeply intertwined with the rhythms of nature, and this connection laid the foundation for her future work, embedding a profound appreciation for organic forms that would later inform her ceramic art. From a young age, Hosono was immersed in a creative environment, in an area which she describes as the Stoke-on-Trent of Japan, known for its rich pottery heritage (Wedgwood website). Her grandfather, a tiling artist and ceramicist, played a pivotal role in shaping her artistic sensibilities. Surrounded by his creations, Hosono felt as though she dwelt within a living artwork, an experience that deeply influenced her approach to ceramics. This familial legacy, combined with her surroundings, instilled in her an intrinsic appreciation for craftsmanship and the tactile memory of materials.
Hosono's formal education in ceramics began at Kanazawa College of Art in Japan (1998–2002), where she specialised in traditional ornamental pottery, followed by further studies at Danmarks Designskole, Copenhagen, Denmark (2005–6), and at the Royal College of Art, London, where she gained an MA in Ceramics and Glass (2007–9). During her time in London she encountered the technique of sprigging, a method that resonates with her signature style of applying delicate ceramic reliefs to clay surfaces, and a testament to her ability to blend traditional techniques with a modern aesthetic. Her technique, inspired by historic Wedgwood Jasperware, involves creating thin ceramic reliefs or 'sprigs' that are meticulously applied as surface decoration. This method was refined during her tenure as an Artist in Residence at Wedgwood, where she explored the archives, taking inspiration from designs that mirrored her own fascination with the natural world. By studying, touching, and drawing botanical forms, Hosono captures the essence of foliage and flowers, transforming them into porcelain pieces that narrate new stories through their detailed forms. She explains, 'I sculpted a leaf that I found in the garden at home. It was a simple leaf […]. However, when I started sculpting its shape with clay, I was drawn into its intimacy; the manner in which veins were branching […]. I found many details that I admired in this small leaf. […] It is my intention to transfer the leaf's beauty and detail into my ceramic work, using it as my own language to weave new stories for objects' (V&A website).
Starting with the design of leaf or flower sprigs, Hosono painstakingly develops new sprig designs and moulds, a process that can take up to six months for a large piece. The porcelain pieces themselves are crafted with a precision that conceals their underlying form beneath layers of intricately applied leaves, reminiscent of dense foliage that hides the branches of a tree. Her pieces, whether large or small vessels, or intricately decorated boxes, emerge as embodiments of tactile memories, intertwining the natural worlds of Japan and the artistic heritage of England, creating a harmonious blend of past and present influences. Hosono has observed, ‘When handling the porcelain clay itself, my old memories of nature in Japan come flooding back to my memory’ (Adrian Sassoon). More recently she has been captivated by the interplay of small floral designs and expansive foliage, a dynamic juxtaposition showcased in works such as A Tall Peony and Leaves Vase and A Tall Tsutsuji Tower. These draw deeply from Hosono's childhood memories, with the Tsutsuji flower—a common sight in Japan—playing a central role. The meticulous creation of each petal, shaped with a fine brush to achieve its delicate curl, exemplifies the challenges and precision inherent in her craft. This painstaking process involves hand-assembling each petal to form flowers, then carefully placing them onto the larger vessel, a task that encapsulates her commitment to detail and the laborious yet fulfilling nature of her work, each piece, often requiring over a year to complete.
Hosono received the Perrier-Jouët Arts Salon Prize, London in 2013 and the 2014 Jerwood Makers Open Prize, awarded by Jerwood Visual Arts, London. In 2015 she held her first solo exhibition at interior designers, Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler, London, followed by the Daiwa Foundation, London (2015). In 2023 she showcased new work in Inspired by Lanhydrock, held within the high-Victorian interiors of Lanhydrock Mansion, Cornwall, and which showcased the fusion of contemporary porcelain art with Lanhydrock’s own historic ceramic and botanical collections. Other group shows include A Natural Selection (2019) at the Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, which highlighted the interplay between Eastern and Western artistic influences through the lens of artists educated across these cultural divides, focussing on contemporary explorations of the natural world and still lifes, and Japanese Contemporary Design, National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh (2022). In the UK public domain, her work is represented in several collections, including Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums; British Museum, and Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Hitomi Hosono ]
Publications related to [Hitomi Hosono ] in the Ben Uri Library