'Associations'
Photographs of ceramics by Kaori Tatebayashi

Pointing to the palm of her cupped left hand, Kaori Tatebayashi explained to me how down in the bottom of the cups she makes lie a memory of Kyoto, and that the rims of the cups represent the mountain ridges surrounding her home town. Visiting her studio from Abergavenny it felt easy to identify with her reference.

On arriving at number 401-and-a-half I became immediately enchanted with Kaori’s studio and artwork. For a couple of days I was immersed in her routine and photographed the outcomes of the diligent ceramic process, where one point has to be arrived at before another can be started.

In her room, off a busy street in south London, illuminated by a small window Kaori takes time to sit with her cups, plates and bowls listening to the sounds of them cooling from the kiln, assessing the outcome of her efforts. Before it leaves her she likes to acquaint herself with the finished work and connect with the memories of landscapes her work embodies.

Toril Brancher