Born 1948 in Iga, Japan
Died 2024
Kei Tanimoto (1948–2024) was an important Japanese ceramic artist who was deeply rooted in the tradition of Iga ceramics. The son of master ceramist Kosei Tanimoto, grew up in Iga, where he came into contact with clay, wood-fired kilns, and traditional techniques at an early age. After an apprenticeship in the Mino ceramics region in the early 1970s, Tanimoto went to Paris, where he studied etching at the renowned “Atelier 17” under Stanley William Hayter. This period shaped his sense of surfaces and graphic textures.
In 1977, he returned to Japan and took over his family's Mitagama kiln. His work combines classic Iga characteristics—natural ash glaze, koge firing marks, and earthy forms—with a personal, often experimental style. Tanimoto worked primarily in a wood-fired kiln, giving his pieces a unique, organic texture.
He gained international recognition for his vases, tea bowls, and later for his series “Since ancient times,” in which he created flat ceramic plates that combined archaic motifs and graphic elements.
In his later work, Kei Tanimoto created a series of ceramic sculptures inspired by ancient Japanese bells (dotaku). Tanimoto applied intensely colored dot ornamentation to these black ceramics, some of which were broken and had brittle surfaces.
His works have been exhibited worldwide, including at the LIXIL Gallery Tokyo, museums in Iga, and galleries in Europe and the USA. Tanimoto is now regarded as a innovator of Iga ceramics and one of its most important representatives of the 20th/21st century.