Born 1975, Japan. Mizuyo Yamashita's delicate porcelain ceramics are inspired from nature, the material and the process.

Living in an era of mass-production and waste, there is feeling that everything is replaceable. Mizuyo's response to this is to make fragile porcelain pieces that reach out to people and make them want to protect them.

Each of her bowls is hand-shaped and, like flowers, leaves, animals and human beings, each one is unique. The bowls are made thin so that one can feel the sense of fragility when picked up.

The images Mizuyo selects to decorate the bowls, butterflies and flowers, reflect this sense of transience with their short lives. So too does her choice of material, preferring to work with porcelain which she uses for its whiteness, fineness, softness (when wet) and sensitivity.

Mizuyo's porcelain wares suggest fragility because of the process she uses and the character of the clay. Using textiles and techniques such as impressing and transfer printing she explores 'imperfect beauty' as well as the translucency, whiteness and fineness of the clay in her work.