Yoji Yamada is a ceramic artist based in Shiga, Japan.
Drawn early on to the language of slipware, Yamada has continued to work with this approach over many years.
Alongside his employment at a pottery workshop, he has steadily built time for making—working in the margins of daily labor, after hours, and on days off—accumulating a sustained engagement with vessels.
He studied the fundamentals of wheel throwing in Shigaraki before traveling to the UK.
There, at Maze Hill Pottery, he apprenticed under Lisa Hammond, expanding his practice to include soda firing and related techniques.
After returning to Japan, he deepened his own work, grounded in the practical knowledge gained through his years at the pottery.
While slip decoration remains central to his practice, Yamada also employs glazes and oils, allowing each piece to move beyond a single fixed style.
The patterns are often bold and immediately legible, yet they settle deeply into the clay, maintaining an overall sense of stillness.
Forms and lines are soft, with no insistence on sharp outlines.
The vessels sit quietly within a space, blending into their surroundings, and over time, their presence gradually comes into focus.
