Gallery St. Ives Tokyo

http://www.gallery-st-ives.co.jp/e/top-e.html

 

St. Ives is the name of the town in Cornwall, England where Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada, well-known as the founders of the Folk Crafts or Mingei Movement, established the Leach pottery in 1920. Living and making pots in St. Ives, Bernard Leach visited Japan more than 10 times until his death in 1979 and contributed significantly for bridging the two countries through pottery. One of the roles of the gallery is also to bridge the two countries, thus the owner chose the name "St. Ives".


While introducing British studio potters' works permanently, Gallery St. Ives occasionally organises special exhibitions of British and Japanese potters who have mainly connections with traditional English pottery or the Mingei Movement.


Not only showing ceramics at the gallery in Japan, but it organises exhibitions overseas such as in the UK and the USA. Also it is involved in various cultural activities including writing articles for magazines, working with museums for their exhibitions and supporting cultural exchanges between Mashiko Town and St. Ives which agreed the official friendship in September 2012. Mr. Koi Isaka is the establisher and owner of Gallery St. Ives.