Talking with Shokki

fmn: First, let's talk about the brand "SHOKKI". When did you start your activities?

SHOKKI: We started in 2013. However, it was just a hobby back then, so it was much later that I started doing it properly as a job.

fmn: Were you originally fond of pottery?

SHOKKI: Originally, I was doing something completely different. I just happened to come across pottery as a hobby. I really enjoyed it as a hobby, so when I was living in my hometown of Okayama, I attended a local pottery class where grandpas and grandmas gathered.

fmn: Was there a turning point when you decided to turn your hobby into a job?

SHOKKI: I simply got too busy and couldn't keep up with deliveries. Before I knew it, the amount of time I spent on pottery in a day had increased dramatically. To be honest, I wanted to do something else, but since I like making things, it just happened to become my job.

fmn: Did your mindset change once it became a job?

SHOKKI: Yes, it did. For example, when it was just a hobby, or in the early days, most of my vases would leak. I thought that was fine, but one day a store told me, "It's leaking." I thought, "Ah, they're right." That's when I first realized I had to maintain a certain quality for practical use.
From then on, my mindset changed to needing to create something that could actually be sold as a product. It's obvious, but I felt like there were more things I had to adhere to.

fmn: As your activities expand, is there a core concept that your brand values?

SHOKKI: As stated on our website, our concept is to be relaxed and free. It's a concept I created in the early days, but since I originally started it as a hobby, I made it with the goal of continuing it for a long time with a "whatever" attitude.

fmn: Please tell us about your design philosophy as well.

SHOKKI: There are various molding techniques in pottery, such as the potter's wheel and slip casting, but SHOKKI is made by hand-forming. When I first started, I knew so little about pottery that I tried other molding methods but couldn't do them. So, I ended up with the current hand-forming method by process of elimination.
Even though the surface is very bumpy, people ask me, "Are you aiming for that?" But I'm not aiming for it at all; it just turns out that way because I'm not very good at making things perfectly smooth. After more than ten years, I guess I could say I'm aiming for it, though.
I studied sculpture at university, and during the human figure modeling class, everything would turn out bumpy. I've always had this habit from the very beginning, and when I was doing human figure modeling, it would inevitably become bumpy; I couldn't make it smooth, and that bothered me, making me wonder what was wrong. I feel like that's just spilling over into what I'm creating with SHOKKI now.

fmn: I find the bumpy parts very cute, or rather, they have a nice character. I thought you were intentionally designing them that way.

SHOKKI: But recently, I've noticed that when I look at the works of ordinary people, or rather, those who aren't professional makers, at workshops and such, I feel like I'm also imitating those amateur-made pieces.
I personally like the shapes that are created when a human kneads clay in an uncontrived way. It's more about aiming for natural human forms rather than my own specific shape.

fmn: Many of your works feature patterns. Where do you draw inspiration for your designs?

SHOKKI: In recent years, the number of people involved in production has increased rapidly, so rather than focusing on ideas, I've been searching for methods that allow us to maintain a certain level of quality even with a large team. As a result, I realized that transfer techniques, like the one we're doing in this workshop, allow for consistent quality even with many people. So, the designs created recently are the result of finding ways to maintain quality even with a large team.

fmn: Next, please tell us about SHOKKI's future vision, if any.

SHOKKI: As a brand, I want to aim for high-end, and I'm not entirely sure how to do that, but I think it would be the funniest if we became something like GUCCI or HERMES. The overarching goal is to create a gap where something handmade feels like a high-end brand, despite its handcrafted nature.
Personally, I've been doing pottery for a bit too long, so I'd like to try changing materials, like trying glass or making vessels out of wood. I definitely want to try experimenting with different materials.