Ryota Aoki (b.1978) says that he wants to see things that never before existed in ceramics. Personally, too, he is the exemplification of that ethos. We do not usually expect a celebrated ceramicist to be wearing a turban, have both ears pierced and be listening to hip-hop in the background as he sits behind the potter's wheel.

In his studio, he displays the Japanese flag on the wall, in the hope that he will one day become Japan's representative ceramic artist. He has also been called the modern Oribe, a reference to his use of the varied forms and patterns on wares favored by the revered 16th-century tea master.

While steeped in the tradition of ceramics, Aoki does not perpetuate the past. Rather, he puts it to use in the service of the present to arrive at something contemporary. An amusing example can be found displayed at the Tomio Koyama Gallery, which is running an Aoki exhibition concurrent with another at eN arts in Kyoto. Aoki crafted a traditional furidashi (a small-scale sweets container), something that is conventionally part of the apparatus of the tea ceremony. In it, though, he keeps his Frisk mints.