Soichiro Maruta

Mr. Maruta Soichiro was born as the eldest son of Mr. Maruta Munehiko, a representative artist of Karatsu ware. He currently works at Uchida Sarayama Kiln, where he helps his father with his pottery making every day, while also working on his own creations.

While many porcelain artists use Amakusa porcelain stone from Kumamoto Prefecture, Soichiro personally goes into the mountains to mine the porcelain stone that is the raw material for porcelain. He crushes the stone, refines it by hand, and turns it into clay.
This is extremely rare even in the contemporary ceramics world, and demonstrates a deep commitment to the materials and an attitude of pursuing beauty from the very beginning of craftsmanship.