ABOUT STUDIO YŌKI

Hi, I’m Emma and I’m the founder and owner of Studio Yōki, a ceramic studio based in Glasgow offering small batch handmade ceramics.

I’ve been making ceramics for a few years now but actually have a background in visual art and a degree in painting. The process of slip casting is what first got me into pottery. I was working on a project that involved constructing an installation made up of hundreds of porcelain slip cast forms. I had never worked with clay before let alone slip casting, so blindly worked my way through the project learning from my many mistakes. However, I was intrigued by the similarities between clay and paint as a material. What I loved about painting was the different textures you could build on the surface of a painting and I found working with clay to be similarly tactile due to its unique malleability. I wanted to explore this material more, and so here we are!

Although I haven’t painted for years, I always think of myself as a painterly ceramicist. These notions of mark making and surface texture I was taught at art school always seep there way into every creative endeavour. And the techniques of hand building, as well as the surface of clay, lend themselves very well to the process of mark making. It’s why I chose to hand build my ceramics over wheel-throwing.

The following is an excerpt from one of my past ‘artist statements’.

In ancient Japanese culture the origami fold Kusudama meaning ‘medicine ball’, a predominant feature in Emma’s work, were attached together to form a sphere, filled with incense or pot pourri and hung above pillows to dispel diseases and ensure good health. This almost medicinal element resonates in the way she strives to create a therapeutic process in her practice through repetition. Indeed every piece of work is arrived at through monotonous repetition. This slow movement of accumulative construction; unhurried and deliberate allows a balance of process and play, space to think and, ultimately, new ideas to grow.

These interests I had as a painter continue to influence what and how I make today. Each pot is made with my own hands, meaning there is rhythm with every movement I make, every manipulation of the clay. There is gentle repetition, yet every pot is one of a kind. This ability to repeat the same process over and over yet never arrive at the exact same finished product twice, is what has always intrigued me, and keeps me coming back to my studio every week.

A note on ‘Yōki’.

Since studying I have always been intrigued by Japanese words - how they often have very specific meanings and how even the simplest of words read and sound much more appealing than there English equivalents. At art school I was never really interested in giving titles to my works as I didn't want the words to influence how my work was interpreted. I worked a lot with origami and at the time I would often burn my paper forms and preserve the ashes. I came across the Japanese word 'Kurokoge' meaning ‘something burned black’, and was fascinated that the Japanese language had a word to describe something so specific. This was the first Japanese word I used to title my work.

Since then I’ve always used Japanese words to title my works and it seemed fitting to do the same when thinking of a name for my ceramics. 

Yōki means vessel in Japanese.

So, now you know a little more about me, feel free to have a good nosy round my website, you’ll find out more information on my products on my shop, and, if you have any questions, please get in touch using my contact page.