Tetsuaki Nakao

1952 Born in Takeo City, Saga Prefecture

 Withdrawal from the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Letters, Keio University

1981 Selected for the first time for the Japan Contemporary Arts and Crafts Exhibition

2003 "Tricolor Art Peace Prize", Revolution of Beauty in Louvre, Paris

2003 "Costanza de' Medici Art Prize" at the Glorious Neo-Renaissance Exhibition in Florence

2010 "The Royal Thai Princess Somsawari Art Prize"

2011 "Japanese Art & Design Art of the Samurai", Christie's

2012 "The Japanese Aesthetic", Christie's

2013 "ASOBI", Christie's

 

Tetsuaki Nakao dropped out of the philosophy department at Keio University and took over the family kiln, Gyokuhou kiln.

Aspiring to become a ceramic artist, he entered the Modern Crafts Exhibition and the Nitten exhibition around 1981, and was successively selected, but he withdrew from the association due to the troublesome nature of arts and crafts organizations.

After that, he devoted himself to researching glazes and remained solitary.

Eventually, he invented his own unique yohen crystalline glaze, which he named "Ginga-glaze".

The galaxy is a phenomenon created by the crystallization of the various metals contained in the glaze. 

Since the 1990s, his work has been highly acclaimed in the U.S., Italy, France, Spain, Russia, and China, and has been featured in a major auction house Bonhams in London. 

Takeo City is located between Saga City and Sasebo City, and in the center of the town is Takeo hot spring, which has been in operation for 1,300 years.

Takeo pottery was first produced by Korean potters who accompanied the lords of Takeo during their invasion of Korea in the 1590s. 

From around the 1590s, large plates, bottles, jars, tea bowls, and pots were made using the techniques of iron painting, green glaze, brushwork, inlaying, and tapping, and were exported not only to other parts of Japan but also to Southeast Asia.

The Gyokuho kiln, which was the family business of Tetsuaki Nakao, was one such kiln that produced "ginga-glaze", a unique technique that was highly acclaimed in Europe and the United States.