Kami Gamo Jinja

I have been trying to flesh out the ‘what’ of what I  sell.  My ceramics with some antiques thrown into the mix is the easy answer. I am more interested in what people are buying when they buy from me. They take home a piece of ceramic in their hand, what do they take home in their heart, if I can put it that way.

I spent Sunday at the Kami Gamo Jinja handmade crafts fair. While there I saw the squarest couple one could imagine. I mean square in the way Dennis Hopper or some such other “Right on, Man” type would use it. The couple I saw defies description. Straight. If the sign says ‘Back in parking only’, they would never DREAM of pulling in head first.  Never. Even if logic and reason said that was the best thing to do. The rules are the rules. The rules rule. Now compare that with the people who sell work they themselves make. The easiest departure point is stability and permanence/consistency. I mean permanence in the sense of job security, stability in the sense that that every month the paycheck will arrive.  The people that sell “art” or crafts have made a deal that those two, stability and permanence,  take a #2, #3 or some other position, not #1. The people who come to buy, to generalize, are far straighter. Stability and permanence/consistency, vie for #1 or are #1 and #2. These are reasonable people and I  like them. People who sell, to generalize, have put doing what they want to do firmly in the #1 position often times much to the chagrin of their straight parents or other important players in their lives. I think this is a very important point in thinking about what I  sell. I am selling a step outside of a “you have to do … ” world. If they wanted a bowl there are many available for 500 yen or less. The 500 yen bowls offer consistency. You know what you are getting. If they buy from me they are taking a step in the less traveled area. Less rules, less consistency in a sense. Maybe my bowl won’t live up to the the perceived image they had when they stepped out of the sun beating down on them into my booth and heard me say everything is wood fired.

Just a thought.

They sell the sand so you can add to these two large piles. 400 grams for 500 yen.

The world’s smallest display.

Work by Akira Kaida.

Work by Akira Kaida.

My booth.

My wife’s booth.

A very large safe/door in the shrine.

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