Tomoo Hamada

Tomoo Hamada (b. 1967) is a Japanese ceramic artist based in Mashiko, Tochigi Prefecture, and a third‑generation member of the Hamada pottery family. He is the son of Shinsaku Hamada and grandson of Shōji Hamada, the Living National Treasure and key figure in the mingei (folk craft) movement. Tomoo began working with clay from an early age in his father’s and grandfather’s studios and became a full‑time potter in 1994, sharing his father’s workshop. He first visited the Leach Pottery in St Ives, UK, in 1995 as part of a cultural exchange, renewing connections between Japanese and British studio pottery that had lapsed after the deaths of Shoji Hamada and Bernard Leach.

Hamada earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in sculpture from Tama Art University in Tokyo in 1989 and 1991, respectively, and continues to work in Mashiko on the original compound established by his grandfather. While he uses traditional Mashiko techniques such as the kick wheel and climbing kiln and draws upon local clays and natural glazes, his work is distinctively his own, incorporating unconventional shapes, extensive overglaze decoration and surface textures that extend beyond the styles of his forebears. He has exhibited, lectured and given workshops internationally and was instrumental in organising community and kiln restoration projects in Mashiko following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake.

Tomoo Hamada’s ceramics are included in the permanent collections of major institutions around the world, including the Mashiko Museum of Ceramic Art, the Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco and others. He has served as Director of the Shoji Hamada Memorial Mashiko Sankokan Museum and continues to contribute to the preservation and evolution of Mashiko’s pottery heritage.