Kondo Takahiro is the third generation in his family to work in porcelain. He initially decided on a different career as a table tennis champion but went back to the family tradition in 1985 after graduating from Kyoto Ceramic Institute.
He works in his grandfather's studio (Yuzo Kondo, a National Living Treasure), and originally followed in his tradition but quickly developed his own style and began to incorporate other media into his work, starting with metal then adding cast glass. Water became a principle theme.
This early experimentation resulted in his unique and highly distinctive 'silver mist' (gintekisai) glaze, which is an amalgam of platinum, gold, silver and glass frit that ranges in appearance from a subtle shimmer to a stream of molten drops that cling and pool over the porcelain surfaces.
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