Bertil Persson (; born 1940) is a Swedish

Hagi ware is a type of Japanese pottery traditionally originated from the town of Hagi, Yamaguchi, in the former Nagato Province. History The origins of Hagi ware can be traced back to the arrival of Korean potters to Hagi, Yamaguchi, Hagi, a town situa ...

potter based in Japan.

Biography

Persson graduated from

Skånska målarskolan Scanian ( ) is an East Scandinavian dialect spoken in the province of Scania in southern Sweden. Broadly speaking, Scanian has been classified in three different ways: # Older Scanian formed part of the old Scandinavian dialect continuum, and ...

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

in 1958 and was employed by

Royal Copenhagen Royal Copenhagen, officially the Royal Porcelain Factory (), is a Danish manufacturer of porcelain products and was founded in Copenhagen in 1775 under the protection of Danish Juliana Maria of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Dowager Queen Juliane Marie. ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

the same year, where he worked with painting sets of the company's

Flora Danica ''Flora Danica'' is a comprehensive atlas of botany from the Age of Enlightenment, containing folio-sized pictures of all the wild plants native to Denmark, in the period from 1761 to 1883. History ''Flora Danica'' was proposed by G. C. Oed ...

porcelain dining set. After a company-sponsored trip to various locales in Japan to study

Japanese pottery and porcelain is one of the oldest Japanese crafts and art forms, dating back to the Neolithic period. Types have included earthenware, pottery, stoneware, porcelain, and blue-and-white ware. Japan has an exceptionally long and successful history of cer ...

in 1969, Persson decided to give up

porcelain painting China painting, or porcelain painting, is the decoration of glazed porcelain objects, such as plates, bowls, vases or statues. The body of the object may be hard-paste porcelain, developed in China in the 7th or 8th century, or soft-paste porce ...

and become a potter. After the master of one of the kilns he had visited in Hagi reluctantly agreed to accept him as an apprentice, he moved to Hagi in 1970 and underwent a 7-year apprenticeship, before eventually setting up his own kiln named Nanmyōjigama (, ) in

Hagi, Yamaguchi file:Hagicity aerialshot.jpg, 270px, Aerial view of central Hagi is a Cities of Japan, city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 43,233 in 22,803 households and a population density of 62 persons per k ...

where he also lives. In the beginning, Persson made traditional Hagi ware as tradition dictated but he gradually began experimenting with painting his pottery and by time, this became his trademark. He has become especially known for his painted ceramic plates, mainly with wild flower motives, which he himself refers to as "e-Hagi" (, "painted Hagi (ware)"). In 2002, he was awarded a "Distinguished Cultural Services Award" (, ) by Hagi city.

The Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...

has described him as "one of the most popular artists of Hagi ware" while the

Yamaguchi Shimbun is a Japanese-language daily newspaper published by The Minato-Yamaguchi Co., Ltd. Headquartered in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi. It was first published in Shimonoseki in 1946. Corporate profile The Minato-Yamaguchi Co., Ltd. *Publishing newspapers : ...

remarked he has many (domestic) admirers.

References

External links

Official website (in Japanese)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Persson, Bertil 1940 births Japanese potters Living people People from Malmö Swedish emigrants to Japan