4th July 2017

Highlights: Tate Edit x Momoko Mizutani

Japanese curator and retailer Momoko Mizutani opened Momosan Shop on a quiet corner of Hackney in 2014. It’s the sort of calming and beautiful place that you make an effort to visit; handmade wares balance on minimalist wooden shelving with such beauty and precision that you could almost be in an art gallery.

Ironically, or perhaps just obviously, select pieces from Momosan Shop can currently be found within Tate Modern. Momoko Mizutani is the second guest editor of Tate Edit, a small shop tucked away in the gallery’s Boiler House. Tate Edit features items handpicked by Tate members of staff, as well as objects selected by a rolling programme of guest editors. Although the shop is nestled in the heart of one of London’s most-visited galleries (5.7 million people walked through its doors in 2016), under Momoko’s curation Tate Edit is something of a calming oasis.

Momoko Mizutani's edit in situ, shot by Gordon Mills.

Momosan Shop on Wilton Way was founded with a simple aim: to showcase and sell unique homewares and objects made by independent craftspeople, with a nod to the pottery shops of her native Japan. Momoko has an unique approach: her curation of objects comes from the heart. When asked what attracts her to an object, her answer was simple: “Originality,” she said, speaking to Zetteler in March. “Something that cannot be replicated without the skilled hand of a trained craftsperson. Something which reflects the personality of the maker, that speaks to me, that makes me smile.”

It was this same approach that informed her curation of Tate Edit. Items featured in the Tate Edit x Momoko Mizutani collection range from £5 to £360 and include a cherry bark tea caddy, rush placemats, and a healthy serving of ceramic wares: soap dishes, vases, mugs, jugs, you name it…

With so many beautiful pieces to choose from, we’ve made a selection of highlights.

Mizuyo Yamashita: Ceramic Vases

Mizuyo Yamashita is a Japanese ceramicist based in London. Her interest in functional homewares stemmed from studying home economics at Kyoto Women's University, before later working at various lifestyle shops in Japan. It wasn’t until she moved to London that she began working with ceramics, studying at Kensington and Chelsea College, City Lit and the University of Westminster.

Today, she works out of a studio in East London where she uses traditional techniques such as shinogi and kohiki to create functional pieces that complement the modern lifestyle. She cites her inspiration as coming from archeological artefacts, everyday products, and the unique forms found in nature.

A number of Mizuyo's ceramic vases feature in Tate Edit. Each vase is hand thrown, differing slightly from the next.

Mizuyo Yamashita's ceramic vases, shot by Joanna Henderson.

Martino Gamper: Arnold Circus Stool

Italian designer Martino Gamper was brought up in the Italian Alps. In 1998, he moved to London to study at the Royal College of Art under the guidance of Ron Arad. Today the designer engages in vast array of projects ranging from exhibition design, interior design, one-off commissions and the design of mass-produced products. His work is often described as improvisational, the most apt example being his project 100 Chairs in 100 days (2007). Collecting disregarded chairs from alleyways and street corners, Martino reassembled the pieces into unique and often strange forms, creating 100 chairs over the course of 100 days.

As part of Tate Edit, Momoko Mizutani has selected an assortment of Martino’s Arnold Circus Stools. The stools were first designed in 2006 as part of Arnold Circus, and its ongoing regeneration project. Arnold Circus in Shoreditch is part of the Boundary Estate, London’s first council housing project. The plastic rotation moulded stool, available at Tate Edit in three colours: white mottle, millstone grit and yellow amber, was designed to be used as the official seating for annual events hosted on the estate, including brass band concerts, carrom tournaments, flower plantings and music and film events.

Martino Gamper's Arnold Circus Stool in white mottle.

Yuta Segawa: Miniature Pots

Japanese artist Yuta Segawa first learnt his skills as a ceramicist in Japan and China, later moving to London to study at the Camberwell College of Arts. Yuta specialises in producing miniature wares, his tiny pots sit neatly in the palm of your hand and as such wouldn’t look out of place in a dollshouse. According to Yuta, his small-scale wares explore the relationship between an artist’s body and their works: making such miniature pieces inevitably challenges the limits of the human body.

A selection of Yuta’s miniature pots are for sale in the Tate Edit shop. The pots are all made by hand and unique in both size and colour.

Yuta Segawa's Miniature Pots in the Tate Edit shop. Photography by Gordon Mills.

The Momoko Mizutani edit will be available at Tate Edit and online until September 2017.