Kayoko MIZUMOTO

Born in Ishikawa Prefecture in 1971.

She apprenticed at a Kaga Yuzen dyeing studio in 1989 and trained there until 1996. From 2001 to 2010, she studied painting techniques at a Kutani ware kiln. In 2018, she completed the Practical Course at the Ishikawa Prefectural Kutani Ware Technical Training Institute.

Kayoko Mizumoto creates her work by embedding elements such as “darkness within pop imagery, the parallel worlds woven between the everyday and the extraordinary, the feeling of freely playing, and the emotions that waver in instability” into her clay forms and overglaze decoration. Her pieces are based on the porcelain clay of Kutani ware and traditional raised overglaze pigments, and are further adorned with crystalline glazes, colorful stains, and platinum decoration. She says, “Through my work, I hope viewers can join me in exploring the slightly mysterious imaginative world we all passed through before becoming adults.”

She built her own kiln at her home in Ishikawa in 2010 and has continued to base her practice there ever since.

She has held numerous solo exhibitions, including “Mirror World” (Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi Main Store, Tokyo, 2022), “Tobikoero” (Suisei, Tokyo, 2024), “Kayoko Mizumoto Exhibition” (Gallery Kikakan, Kyoto, 2024), and “Esogoto Wonderland” (Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi Main Store, Tokyo, 2025).

She has also participated in many group exhibitions such as “NIPPON MANIA” (Kunsthaus Kaufbeuren, Germany, 2023), “Dense World II” (Seiko House Ginza, Tokyo, 2023), and “Ephemera” (Samurai Museum Berlin, Germany, 2024), actively exhibiting both in Japan and abroad.

Her works have been featured as cover art for publications including Kōgei Miraiha: The New Craft Movement as Art by Yuji Akimoto and Hitodenashi – Kongōkai no Shō by Natsuhiko Kyogoku.