Esprit Bonsai International – August 2019

68 - EspritBonsaiInternational #101

Pots and
Potters

TheceramicistJean-

PhilippeKoenigspecialises

inworkingwithashglazes.

InhisstudioinScherwiller,

Alsace,easternFrance,this

64-year-oldretiredpastry

chefenjoystestingnew

recipesandtechniques.

InterviewedbyAnneRoyer

Photos:Jean-PhilippeKoenig Esprit Bonsai International: How did you

become a ceramicist who specialises in

bonsai?

Jean-Philippe Koenig: When I was young,

in Alsace, we were taken to visit faience

factories. A teacher told us about Ber-

nard Palissy, the top ceramicist of France

around 1530. It stuck with me and I

thought: one day, I will try. In the 1980s,

I worked in Japan as a chocolate-maker

and confectioner. I visited a bonsai exhi-

“Experimenting is

what I like the most”

Jean-Philippe Koenig

A former pastry chef and confectioner, Jean-Philippe

discovered bonsai in Japan and learned ceramics

in Australia. He returned to settle in Alsace at the

age of 40 andnowdedicateshisretirementto

pottery. Roundpotwithshinoglazeinwine-lees

white. Dimensions: 20 × 8cm(7⅞× 3⅛in.).

The potter’s

seal.

bition and it was love at first sight. I fell

in love with the simplicity of the forms

of Japanese ceramics. A little later, I set-

tled for a dozen years in Australia, where

the practice of bonsai is very developed.

I joined a club: we visited nurseries and

bonsaists on weekends; I took classes as

soon as I could. And I started making my

own pots. For three years, I took evening

classes to learn about pottery at the Uni-

versity of Sydney, with a Japanese teacher.