This teapot by Kasama based potter Haruo Takahashi is made using the mentori technique of hand faces made the pottery surface. Onto these flat areas Takahashi has applied his kohiki glaze. Profile of Haruo Takahashi With hindsight Haruo Takahashi was something of a visionary. His move to Kasama pre-dated the current trend for studio pottery by some time. “When I came here I think there were only about six of us. You have to respect the openness the existing pottery works had when we set up”. A surfer, the atmosphere of the local pottery scene matched well his free spirit. Originally from the wider region, Takahashi in fact learned his craft in Japan’s far south, in Kagoshima. Returning to seek a base, quite unintentionally Takahashi became an early pioneer of Kasama’s new wave. His work is shaped by his early training, and uses a variant of the ‘namagake’ technique of applying glaze on to slightly wet clay. A complex drying process, an initial low temperature firing and a feldspar, sil