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Singapore Clay Festival 2025: Hiroko Mita Chronicles Her Journey From Housewife To Pottery Artist

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Singapore Clay Festival 2025: Hiroko Mita Chronicles Her Journey From Housewife To Pottery Artist

Summary:

For some, a strict teacher might be enough to put them off a hobby for life. But for Hiroko Mita, who will be exhibiting at the upcoming Singapore Clay Festival 2025, it was the rigour of learning pottery under master ceramicist Iskandar Jalil that drew her into the art.
In many ways, she says the exacting standards of the Cultural Medallion winner reminded her of home back in Japan, where pottery remains a prominent part of artistic culture.
It was easy for her to keep motivated to improving her craft, even while juggling the raising of three children and a job teaching part-time at a Japanese school.
Today, she has come into her own, having staged pottery exhibitions in both Tokyo and Singapore.
Hiroko has also completed commissions for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Arts Council, the National Heritage Board, and Duke-NUS Medical School.
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Draws inspiration from nature and the surroundings
Singapore Clay Festival 2025: Hiroko Mita Chronicles Her Journey From Housewife To Pottery Artist - Jalan Bahar Clay Studios
On most days, you’ll find Hiroko in her workshop at the far-flung Jalan Bahar Clay Studios. The room she works in is cramped – there’s barely any breathing room after you’ve accounted for a full-sized pottery wheel, a table for mixing and applying glaze, and a cupboard to store supplies.
Though there are a couple of windows for ventilation, much of the greenery outside is obstructed by the young silver’s next projects, all air-drying on shelves under plastic wraps.
It’s hot, humid, remote, and amid the mugginess of a Thursday afternoon, completely quiet.
It comes as no surprise, considering that Hiroko draws inspiration from nature, the environment, and the people living in it.
Though she hesitates to say that she has a signature style, she finds herself working repeatedly with organic shapes hewn from intertwining strands of clay.
Singapore Clay Festival 2025: Hiroko Mita Chronicles Her Journey From Housewife To Pottery Artist - Signature style
Even so, the ceramicist embraces wabi-sabi, the Japanese philosophy of accepting imperfect beauty and transience.
Singapore Clay Festival 2025: Hiroko Mita Chronicles Her Journey From Housewife To Pottery Artist - Clay Making

"Clay has a memory. How you touch it, how you treat it – it remembers, and it will come out in the final product. But the imperfections are the human touch that make that piece yours."

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Catch her at the Singapore Clay Festival 2025
Singapore Clay Festival 2025: Hiroko Mita Chronicles Her Journey From Housewife To Pottery Artist - Singapore Clay Festival 2025 Event
Credit: Singapore Clay Festival
Hiroko splits her time between her more artistic projects and what she calls bread-and-butter pottery – plates, bowls, mugs, and bijou pots for tiny bonsai.

"But as Dr Jalil used to explain, we cannot separate form from function. We need to be able to pay for materials, so that we can keep researching and pursuing our art."

These pieces will be up for sale at Hiroko’s table at the fifth edition of the Singapore Clay Festival, happening 7 to 9 November 2025.
Apart from pottery sales by more than 100 artists, you can also expect demos, live pottery throwdowns, and exhibitions. Iskandar Jalil will also be putting up 25 pieces from his family’s collection.

"Even if you make something like a plate or bowl, it is something that you can place in your home and feel happy about."

Singapore Clay Festival 2025: Hiroko Mita Chronicles Her Journey From Housewife To Pottery Artist - Plates
Credit: Singapore Clay Festival

Singapore Clay Festival 2025
Where: Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre, Multipurpose Hall, Level 7, 1 Straits Boulevard, Singapore 018906
When: 7 to 9 November, 11am – 9pm (closes 6pm on Sunday)
Price: Day pass starts at $8
Website: https://www.eventbrite.sg/e/singapore-clay-festival-25-tickets-1593496463819

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