COVERCHORD EXCLUSIVE

ITARU MORIYAMA
Solo Exhibition
at COVERCHORD

Amakusa clay shaped with care by Itaru Moriyama
Tableware where utility and beauty meet.

Event Period: Saturday, September 13, 2025 – Wednesday, September 17, 2025

Based in Amakusa, Kumamoto, ceramic artist Itaru Moriyama creates works with powerful expressions that evoke the region’s natural landscape.

At the same time, his pieces embody both utility and beauty, shaping everyday life while resonating with food.
He works with soil nurtured by the rich local environment, materials he gathers himself, and inspiration drawn from the sea and mountains.

These elements come together to form a complex harmony within each piece.
COVERCHORD will host its first solo exhibition of Moriyama’s work starting Saturday, September 13.

From Saturday, September 13, a wide selection of his works will be available to see and hold at COVERCHORD Nakameguro and Fukuoka, with a curated lineup also launching online the same day.
We invite you to discover the quiet beauty of Moriyama’s pottery up close.
Later in this feature, we visit Moriyama Pottery in Amakusa to uncover the principles behind his work.
 

 

STONE PLATE ¥6,700

FLOWER VASE RUST (LARGE) ¥15,000

Event Period: Saturday, September 13, 2025 – Wednesday, September 17, 2025

A Visit to Moriyama Pottery

Tenno, Itsuwa-machi in Amakusa City, Kumamoto. About fifteen minutes by car from the ocean-view city center, nestled among terraced rice fields in the mountains, lies the workshop of Itaru Moriyama.
To explore the philosophy that runs through his pottery, we visited Moriyama Pottery.

A cozy workshop with a warm, inviting shop attached,
where a friendly resident cat comes to greet you.

At age 21, Moriyama began his path in pottery after a friend, heir to the historic Maruo kiln in Amakusa, asked him to help.
What started as a part-time job soon revealed a natural fit.
 

Childhood memories of playing in the soil came back, and working alongside skilled artisans, he quickly found pottery to be central to his life.

Even as a newcomer, he was entrusted with the potter’s wheel, experiences that built both technique and confidence.
 
After nine years of training, guided by the words of his mentor to “work with independence in mind,” he established Moriyama Toki.

 
A former village eatery became his studio, marking the start of his own kiln.

He works mainly with Amakusa clay, blending it with soils collected by hand from across Kyushu.
He works mainly with Amakusa clay, blending it with soils collected by hand from across Kyushu. This original mix is what he calls Tenotsuchi.

Born and raised in Amakusa, Moriyama carries a deep affection for his hometown.
It felt only natural that his pottery would begin with a desire to use the materials closest to him.

“What kind of expression would emerge from the soil of familiar rice fields?”
“What kind of landscape might appear if straw were used as glaze?”

What started as simple curiosity gradually evolved into the style that defines his work today.

Kikuneri is a kneading technique used to remove air from clay.
As the name suggests, the process leaves the clay patterned like the petals of a chrysanthemum.

Moriyama’s process begins with digging clay from the nearby mountains and blending it into his own unique mix.
Using Amakusa and other Kyushu soils as a base, he combines them with earth he collects by hand from the surrounding hills.

Clay rich in iron is left only partially refined, allowing the mineral to rise to the surface in speckled patterns that give the pieces a distinctive character.
His glazes are equally rooted in the land. Ash glazes from pine and oak produce soft greens. Iron-based glazes derived from minerals create deep blacks.
Calcium glaze, a byproduct of Amakusa’s salt-making, brings out shades of white.

Rather than relying on chemically formulated glazes, he embraces the complexity of natural materials, resulting in surfaces rich with variation.
Working with unstable natural resources, however, comes with constant risk. At times, half a kiln may fail, leaving him in despair. Yet just as often, unexpected accidents yield new colors or textures that spark moments of joy.

Laughing, Moriyama admits, “I sometimes wonder why I ever chose to work with natural materials.” But it is precisely this unpredictability that keeps him experimenting and creating.

Moriyama’s work carries a quiet strength that draws out the character of food.
Guided by a commitment to local materials, his focus has always been on creating ceramics that balance beauty with function and feel at home in everyday life.

“I’m not the type who has ideas flowing one after another,” he says with a laugh. Some days are spent in thought at the wheel. Other times, a discovery in the mountains or by the sea sparks a new idea.
One example is STONE PLATE, a series of plates that take their patterns from volcanic ash he found in the hills.

Pressed into the clay, the ash leaves natural markings that give each piece a raw and expressive surface.
He also places great importance on weight, designing his work with the user’s touch and sense in mind.

For Moriyama, a piece only comes alive when in use.
Clay from Amakusa, resources from the sea and mountains, and the quiet rhythms of local life all come together at the table.
In that moment, his ceramics gain a new vitality, embodying an aesthetic of everyday life deeply rooted in Amakusa.

The STONE PLATES were born from pressing clay against a chunk of volcanic ash found in the mountains, leaving its natural pattern on the surface.
To let the raw texture speak, only a light coat of iron powder glaze is applied.
 
 

Moriyama says his favorite part of the process is working at the wheel.
It is also the time he values most, lost in thought about what he will create next.

The technique known as tatara involves pressing clay onto plaster molds.
One of Moriyama’s signature works, the TANESARA plates, is crafted this way and has become a favorite among professional chefs.
 

The white tones are created using calcium glaze,
made from a byproduct of Amakusa’s salt-making process.
Moriyama visits Karokuya En, a salt workshop run by acquaintances,
to receive the calcium that becomes the source of this glaze.

Event Period: Saturday, September 13, 2025 – Wednesday, September 17, 2025

ITARU MORIYAMA
Solo Exhibition

Event Period: Saturday, September 13 – Wednesday, September 17, 2025 Open: 11:00 – 19:00
*On the opening day, Saturday, September 13, the artist will be present at COVERCHORD Nakameguro.
*Selected works will also be available on COVERCHORD Online from the same day.

Venue: COVERCHORD Nakameguro 1F 1-23-14 Aobadai, Meguro-ku, Tokyo
Instagram_@coverchord nakameguro

Venue: COVERCHORD Fukuoka 1F 2-17-23 Kego, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka-shi, Fukuoka
Instagram_@coverchord_fukuoka

Itaru Moriyama
Born in Amakusa, Kumamoto in 1982.
After nine years of training at Maruoyaki in Amakusa, he studied wood-fired kilns in Kochi.
In 2014, he established his own kiln, Moriyama Pottery, back in Amakusa.
Working mainly with materials sourced locally, he creates pieces guided by the motto “tableware in harmony with food.”
Instagram_@moriyama_touki

Artist’s Comment – On the Solo Exhibition

This will be my first solo exhibition at COVERCHORD, and I am excited for visitors to see many pieces that are not part of my usual lineup. I hope each work can serve as a supporting role to the food at the center and bring life to every table.

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