Interview with Noe Kuremoto
Noe Kuremoto is a ceramic artist based in east London. She works from her studio in Hackney to produce elegant sculptural pieces made by hand with clay. Born in Japan, the influence of Kuremoto’s heritage is evident in the simplicity of her organic forms. Kuremoto’s sculptures embody a rawness that echoes traditional Japanese beliefs that spirits are present in everything, particularly the natural world. Her ceramics are shaped by the essence of nature, selective memories from childhood and an ongoing desire for deep emotional connection.
Your distinctive sculptural forms convey an organic softness. How would you describe your aesthetic?
A lot of my form comes from my childhood memories of Japan. I see making clay sculptures as similar to drawing in air. I adore the way we appreciate nature in Japan, we believe spirits and gods are everywhere especially in nature from mountains to ocean to sky. My sculptures tend to have these organic shapes that honour the wilderness.
Have you always worked with ceramics? What appealed to you about working with this medium?
A short answer is yes. I started working with ceramics when I was little as my father was an artist and taught fine art at university-level, so I had access to every studio in his art department. I always loved playing with clay.
I came to London when I was 18 to study fine art at Central Saint Martins. At that time, ceramics felt like a poor cousin to fine art, since it belonged to the craft department. I stopped practising with clay and just focused on my large-scale installation, performance art, and video art.
I only returned to ceramics seven years ago. I love the simplicity of just using my hands, clay, water and fire. I think computers are slowly destroying our true creativity and ceramics is just an ancient way of making forms. I absolutely adore that.
How did your fine art education influence your practice?
Hugely so. I loved every moment of my art school time. 90s Central Saint Martins was located in Soho. It was rough and gritty, we all believed we could make the world a better place with our art. Central Saint Martins told me to always believe in my vision. That simple courage alone is golden. I met so many incredible friends and teachers there too, having an artist community and helping each other to thrive is a big part of being an artist.
Your body of work comprises traditional Japanese ceramics through its simplicity and elegance. How has your cultural heritage lent itself to your visual style and methods of working?
My Japanese cultural heritage is in my blood. It’s my DNA after all. I am just a small part of this universe. I try to bring light to the world in the small ways I can and I’m always grateful to the traditional Japanese views of the world. Perhaps more so now than when I was actually living in Japan.
There is a real tactile element about your work, in which your interaction with the materiality is clearly exhibited. Do you work intuitively when it comes to deciding the form of each piece?
Yes very much so. You can never control clay. It’s better to let clay guide you. Usually each piece reveals itself out of a larger block of clay.
You recreate certain works that share similar titles and details. Are these an evolutionary exploration of one original idea?
By having reputation, I see what kind of world I am trying to create. For example, my recent Kodama series, I do not think it works as a single sculpture. I aim to make as many Kodama as possible. They all belong together and they work almost as a tribe.
Where do you find your main sources of inspiration? What time of day do the best ideas come to you?
I am a morning person! I can show up at my studio at 4 am – no problem, but I am useless after 8pm. I also treasure our family life and I like to cook dinner for my children and my husband and we spend our family time together in the evening. You will never find me in my studio in the late night.
Do you have any preferred music that you like to work to?
I listen to anything, it depends on my mood. Sometimes no music at all. This week I am listening to Olafur Arnalds and Cinema Orchestra. Their song ‘To Build a Home” was our wedding song.
How has lockdown affected your practice? Have you had to make any adjustments to the way you work during this time?
It was incredibly challenging. Shops and galleries were closed so I suddenly found myself financially difficult position to support our family, but I also saw it as an opportunity to focus on my unexplored collection which was bubbling underneath me.
Some of your pieces have slightly more experimental and larger forms, is this something you would like to continue evolving?
Definitely! Unfortunately, my kiln is not big enough to make large-scale works so I’m saving up for a much bigger one – stay tuned.
What direction do you hope to take your practice over the next years?
I am hoping to explore more large sculptural forms instead of functional vases.
See Noe Kuremoto’s ceramics here.