Daniel Seko tea bowls have arrived
by 森一馬Daniel Seko is a ceramic artist based near Kunštát, Czech Republic.
When I first encountered his work, I was deeply impressed by the care evident in its making—particularly the foot, firmly grounded in a Japanese sense of aesthetics, and the thoughtful shaping of the interior.
Today, through social media, we have many opportunities to see the works of artists from around the world. Yet in most cases, what is shown is limited to a frontal view. Attention to the underside of a bowl—the treatment of the foot—or to the form revealed when one peers inside, could be considered a distinctly Japanese way of looking, and in that sense, the absence of such views is not surprising.
However, Daniel’s posts of his chawan always include views of the interior and the foot. It feels as though he is quietly saying, “I understand.” And when one actually holds his work, that understanding becomes tangible. Not only in the interior or the foot, but also in the subtle distortions, the sensitivity to kiln effects, and even the shaping of the rim—through the palms of one’s hands, it becomes clear that he has a profound grasp of the tea bowl as a form, and a deep respect for Japanese ceramics.
Daniel Seko was born in 1976. He lives on the outskirts of Kunštát, one of the Czech Republic’s most renowned ceramic regions, and began working with clay at the age of eighteen.
In his twenties, through an international exchange program, he visited the studio of Japanese ceramic artist Masakazu Kusakabe, where he was first introduced to Japanese ceramics. After that experience, Daniel made numerous trips to Mashiko, and while firing wood kilns alongside Mashiko potters such as Shikamaru Takeshita, he gradually developed a deep interest in—and profound respect for—Japanese tea ceramics. This journey naturally led him toward the making of matcha bowls.
Today, his chawan enjoy strong popularity, particularly in Europe and the United States. Daniel himself has remarked that he never imagined there would be such demand for matcha bowls in the West, and that even he has been surprised by the response.
In fact, I personally purchased one of his works over a year ago and had already been in contact with him at that time. However, most of his pieces were consistently sold out, leaving none available. After more than a year of waiting, I am finally pleased to be able to introduce his work through Kamatotsuchi.
In the clay of Kunštát, a historic center of ceramics in the Czech Republic, lies the silent imprint of a continent’s memory—accumulated slowly over the course of time.
In the tea bowls shaped by Daniel Seko, where that clay meets flame and takes form, one senses a unique presence: a convergence of his deep understanding of Japanese tea ceramics and the histories of a different land.
If, through these vessels, one might pause to reflect on the passage of time embedded in the earth, and the stories carried by the land itself, that would be our greatest hope.