After having attended the Penland School of Crafts summer course in North Carolina USA, she decided to settle at Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park. This park, located in the Kyoto area, is intended to support various activities around the theme of ceramics, including artistic creation, training, and exhibitions. It is there that Sayuri began to explore new creation paths;

“I wanted to make my work more remarkable so I started to work in 3 dimensions using rukoro techniques to separately create and then combine the different parts of one artwork”. 

Sayuri explains her artistic approach as being a combination of ancient art representing nature as such and her willingness to create a shape for the shape itself. “The color is beautiful for its color”, says Sayuri when asked about it. The elaborated inclusion of pigments inside the clay magnifies its impact and Japanese paper is added to the clay mix, helping to stabilize and strengthen the material. 

Movement is essential to Sayuri’s work, representing the breathing of the shape, its connection to reality. As essential as memory, emotion and human senses. “If you succeed in transferring those into art work, the purpose is met.” Sayuri Ikake is passionate about artistic expression; her work is a meticulous combination of traditional gestures and innovative techniques that serves the purpose of expressing her belief in Eternity.