Kei Shimaoka

He is the grandson of Tatsuzo Shimaoka, a Living National Treasure and holder of the Important Intangible Cultural Property "Mingei Pottery (Jomon Inlay)". After six years of training from 1997, he began working at Shimaoka Pottery in 2003 and took over the company in 2007, producing pottery for many solo exhibitions both in Japan and abroad. He has inherited Shimaoka's techniques and is also honing his own techniques and developing glazes.