Artist Pakawan Thongvanit, known as Atelier Pakawan, is recognised for her lovely, detailed illustrations with warm and soothing colours. Both her illustrations and ceramics are influenced by Japanese culture and art techniques because she spent four years in Seto, a city which is renowned for pottery.
Pakawan recently launched a book titled Kon Thai Kon Nan Thii Pai Rian Pan Thii Yipun (The Thai Who Went To Study Pottery In Japan) and is currently holding the exhibition ‘Clay No Tabi: A Journey Through Clay’. On display at MMAD Box by Happening on the 2nd floor of Seacon Square, the exhibition reveals content from the book and showcases sculptures and ceramic work.
‘After I returned from Japan in 2018, I tried to write this book but I felt depressed because I missed my life and friends in Japan,’ explained Pakawan.
“To avoid negative feelings, I decided to put the project on hold. Last year, Vip Buraphadeja, the editor of Happening, asked me to try and write the book again, thus, I was able to finish it. Working on the book reminded me of my classes and sculptures that I created while in Japan. Thai viewers have never seen the sculptures at this exhibition before along with other ceramics work using sometsuke, known as the blue and white technique.’
Previously, Pakawan worked as an interior designer but she was not the right fit for the job, and there was nowhere to channel her creativity. She spent her free time creating illustrations and came up with the idea to put them on ceramic tableware. She thought of purchasing tableware and discussed the idea with her father who suggested she take a ceramics course instead, so that she could create the whole piece by herself.
Pakawan enrolled in a course at Som Ceramics where she learned the whole process and realised she enjoyed working with the medium. When she was looking for further education in the UK or the US, her father told her to consider Japan since their pottery is unique.
‘At that time, I focused on studies in the UK and the US because I could not speak Japanese, but Seto has a pottery studio which accepts international students for one month. The master there could speak English. I discovered the Setomono Matsuri, one of the largest Japanese pottery and ceramics festivals, is held in September so I decided to be there then,’ she said.
After Pakawan finished her course in Seto, she aimed for a diploma in ceramics at a professional training college. This two-year course required Japanese language skills, so she learned Japanese for one year in Thailand and one year in Seto before being admitted to the college.
During the first year, students learn all techniques including rotating plates, hand shaping and casting moulds. In the second year, students become more independent and they can work on their own style. This is when Pakawan created sculptures for the first time.
‘The master asked students to think what a sculpture is. In Japan, the word sculpture can refer to any object, so I think my sculptures can be an object that I like which happens to be shape of fruits. There are many decorative techniques that can be used for ceramics such as glaze and pattern drawing. Decorative techniques require using a sharp tool to scrape into dark stoneware clay and fill with liquid white clay.’
Pakawan named the stoneware collection of her fruit sculptures Dessin, which she explained comes from the French word for drawing.
‘I kept the colours monochrome to echo the look of pencil sketches. The process of making these textures feels very much like drawing to me. The collection won the Mayor’s Prize at the 70th Seto City Art Exhibition. It was the first time I won an art award. I was impressed with my experience in Seto, which is a small town, but it really supports art.’
Since the exhibition was inspired by her book, Pakawan also created a book sculpture titled An Open Book to celebrate her first publication.
‘A book has angles and corners which are forms that I have never been good at. I prefer forms of curves and roundness. I designed bookmarks to look like stems of flowers. An Open Book has a crack which happened during firing. As a perfectionist, showing flawed work is not ideal but there was no time,’ she confessed.
As a ceramist, Pakawan also learned to move on quickly when her work does not meet expectations.
‘Making ceramics teaches us to be patient and to let things go and move on. When we open a kiln, we experience either success or disappointment, and disappointment comes often.
“Making ceramics is like science which requires experimentation. We can somewhat predict the outcome, but many times, the outcome is not as we expect. After we feel disappointment, we take a moment to grieve and then get over it.
“This taught me to not dwell on disappointment for too long. When we feel sad, we should start working on something,’ explained Pakawan.
For the exhibition, Pakawan created four new pieces inspired by the different seasons in Japan. Each piece consists of a drawing on dark clay on the left and a drawing on white clay on the right. There are the spring, autumn, rainy and winter seasons. Summer season was skipped because Pakawan does not appreciate it much.
‘The first piece, Haru, means spring in Japanese. Spring symbolises a new beginning. It is a season for a new semester in schools and when new employees start working. Though flowers bloom and the season is bright, as a person who is over anxious when things change, I had to give myself a pep talk in front of the mirror before heading out to ceramic classes,’ Pakawan explained.
‘Tsuyu represents the rainy season. The rainy season in Seto is different from Bangkok because it drizzles all day. The atmosphere is gloomy, but the good thing is that hydrangeas, one of my favourite flowers, can be found on every corner. To graduate, all students had to make a 40cm plate with a pattern. I designed a pattern inspired by hydrangeas in a minimal style, because it was difficult to replicate an exact pattern. That minimal pattern became my signature style.’
A collection of white and blue ceramic cups were also well-received by viewers. Many cups sold out on the first day of the exhibition and some have unusual handles which do not look functional.
‘The master told students that if we focus only on function, we won’t be able to come up with new designs. If we create cups that are not easy to hold, it may bring new drinking experiences. There are various ceramic cup designs in Japan. I played with shapes and handles that I had never designed before,’ Pakawan said.
‘For the exhibition, I feel I have done my best, so I don’t expect much. I will wait and see if it is the beginning of something new.’