Esprit Bonsai International – August 2019

#101 EspritBonsaiInternational - 69

I specialisedinworkingwiththepotter’s
wheel,makingbowlsandteapots.I spent
hoursandusedmanykilosofclay...One
evening,I wantedtoshowmyteacher
thatI knewhowtomakeabowl.Shesaid,
“Itdoesnotworkthatway.Yoursoulis
notinthispottery.Youmustfeelwhen
thebowlisfinished.”Sincethen,I haveto
befullyfocused,insymbiosis;otherwise
I don’ttouchtheclay.I alsolearnedalot
fromanEnglishpotter,whopassedonhis
knowledgeofashglazes.AndI continued
tolearnalone,I wentthroughdifferent
phases:faience,raku,sandstone...

E.B.I.:Howdoyouworkonanewpiece?
J.-P.K.:I doalotofsketches,whenever
Ifeelinspired,sometimesevenatnight.
I alwayskeepanotebookathand.I often
drawpotsandI makethemwithina week.
Theroundpotsarethrownonthewheel,
andthesquarepotsarehandshaped
fromslabs.Somepotsareassembledin
claycoils,includinglargeshells,whichcan
takethreetofourdaysofwork.

E.B.I.:Howisitdifferentwhenyouwork
oncommission?
J.-P.K.:I don’tworkoncommandvery
often...I mustfallinlovewiththetree
andtheownerhastotrustme,togive
methefreedomtocreate.Itisverydif-
ficulttosticktotheperson’sspirit.I ask
forpicturesofthetreeandI makesome
sketches,I drawthetreeandthepot.Both
mustbeinsymbiosis.Ittakestimetofind
inspiration,sometimesamonthortwo...

E.B.I.:Youspendalotoftimepreparing

yourclays:whatareyourmanufacturing

secrets?

J.-P.K.:I mixalotofdifferentclaysfrom

FranceorGermany.ThenI addtalc,wood

ashestohardentheclay,siftedchamotte

togetarockytexture...Andmostimpor-

tantly,I leavemyclaysoutsidefora yearor

twotomakeitfreeze.TheJapaneseuse

thistechniquea lot.Clayexplodeswhenit

freezes;ithasdisintegratedandcan’tbe

workedasit is.Itmustbekneadedtomake

it creamy. Then it’s much more pleasant

to work with and more malleable and elas-

tic. Sometimes when I work on the wheel,

I can’t even stop. It doesn’t crack, it holds

better: it “takes shape”. And it makes more

resistant pots.

E.B.I.: You also like to experiment with

ash glazes to get new colours and tex-

tures...

J.-P.K.: The preparation of glazes is a very

complex process. I have a basic recipe:

Passionate about working with clay and ash glazes, Jean-Philippe Koenig
experiments with many techniques and recipes in his workshop located in
Scherwiller, Alsace, to offer pots with different textures and colours.

Black,ochreandbluehuesblendingtogether on

thislongrectangularpot.Ashglazes.Dimensions:

43.5× 13.5× 4.4cm(17⅛× 5¼× 1¾in.).

Silkyturquoiseash-glazedpot.Dimensions:

35.5× 24.5× 5.5cm(14× 9⅝× 2⅛in.).

Bright red glazedottedwithbronzeforthisovalpot.

Dimensions: 26 × 19.5× 7.4cm (10¼× 7¾× 2⅞in.).