For Japanese-born ceramicist Kaori Tatebayashi, connecting to nature isn’t just a way of offsetting the pace of city life, it’s an essential process of her sculptural work, which renders vegetables, fruits and flowers in ultra-lifelike clay compositions. 

At her flat in a converted Victorian building in Forest Hill, south-east London, which she lives in with her husband, Tatebayashi talks to us about the joys of living near so many parks; why memories of her grandparents’ countryside home is still a fruitful source of inspiration; and how she transformed her communal front garden into a verdant urban scene.

Kaori Tatebayashi: “I grew up in Kyoto but was born in the village of Arita and visited my grandparents there every summer for a month. My mum liked moving a lot, but my grandparents’ house has always been the same, in that very remote, beautiful village. So, I kind of associate home with that place, in nature. I think the memory of it really influences me when I’m making my work, even the tableware seen here.

“My family trade pottery in Japan, where we have a long tradition of functional tableware for eating and tea ceremonies that I associated with ceramics for a long time. When I was studying, I was always thinking, ‘Ok, but what else can clay do?’ or, ‘What else could a ceramic piece be?’

“When I went to study ceramics the Sōdeisha movement, led by Yagi Kazuo and established in the mid 20th century, was still prevalent. They started to make ceramics that resembled sculpture, but it was still very earthy, and they were using traditional firing, so it still had the feel of, not tableware, but it wasn’t quite sculpture – something in between. In Japan, we called it objects ceramics.

“I went to an exhibition organised by Crafts Council, which toured from London to Japan and featured many sculptural ceramics. For me, it was like a revolution. And the finishes of the pieces weren’t shiny or heavily glazed, and I thought this was the finish I wanted to do, and that it would fit with what I wanted to make. I came to study in London as an exchange student and then I came back in 2000, and have lived here ever since.

“My husband and I were renting in St John’s Wood before and we couldn’t afford to buy there, so we came to visit a friend in this area and really liked it, plus my studio is in Camberwell, so not far away.

“We liked this flat immediately. Although it wasn’t the biggest we’d seen, it had a nice feel with its original staircase and arched top windows – we thought it was very charming.

“We didn’t have to do a lot of work. Whoever did up the flat did a nice job, so the book shelves on each side of the fireplace were modernised like that already, and the attic had already been converted into a tiny bedroom too. The one thing we did do was to make the living and dining room into one.

“A lot of the pieces are work by my friends, such as Catrin Howell, who I share my studio with, and Robert Cooper, a ceramist I am a big fan of. The grid-like metal pieces on the wall were dug up from my friend’s garden. I helped her get it out of the ground and liked it, so I bought it back on the train – I’m very happy with it!

“I don’t have much of my work here, and I’ve been wondering why. I guess my studio is filled with my stuff and at home I want to switch off. I picked some pieces, like the fruit and vegetables on the table, and that’s ok.

“I find that ceramics has got a really unique character because if you don’t break a piece it can last forever, but, if you drop it, it can just disappear within a second, and so it’s got that kind of double fragility and permanence which appeals to me.

“Also, I think of ceramics as being a bit like ghosts. It has no real life, but once, when it was clay, it was an alive, organic material with bacteria. Once it’s fired it becomes like a shell of life; they’re not living anymore, like ghosts.

“When something is fired, the effect of time sort of freezes and just stops, so I’m trying to stop or capture the time and preserve it in my work. A plant’s life is very short, especially the flowering period, so when I capture it, it’s like capturing a fleeting moment.

“When people see my work, I want it to transport them to being in nature. Ideally, you might want to go and climb a mountain or something, but you can recreate a very small version of that feeling with my work, I hope.

“I want my place to be uplifting. When I’m choosing a colour I go for something happy and not too calming because I want something bit more than that. I tried different colours for the walls in the past, but some were disasters or changed the feel too much. This is lime paint now, which gives a kind of warmth and texture.

“But still, I’m very careful about colour, and not very adventurous. It’s one thing I want to introduce more of – I’m still learning.

“I work from my studio six days a week and my home is more of a private space. I sometimes like to have friends over but I’m not a natural entertainer – I get really nervous, especially when cooking. It’s nice when I do it, but I have friends who host more often and whenever I visit them, I think they’re really good – so casual and natural. I need more practice!

“The area has so many green spaces. Peckham Rye Park has beautiful gardens; One Tree Hill is great for a little woodland walk, and you can wander around Nunhead cemetery which is the second largest of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries. Our flat looks over Brenchley Gardens, which is a local secret oasis and great for foraging elderflower and blackberries.

“And the Horniman Museum is another hidden gem. They have a gallery of Victorian and Edwardian taxidermy, kept in the most beautiful old fashion cases.

“We have a communal front garden which I have been looking after ever since we moved into the building 10 years ago and I have felt extremely lucky to be able to experiment and grow things out there. There are endless jobs to do and it really helps keep me stay happy and sane!

“It’s become known to locals as a rose garden since I’ve planted 16 different roses over the years, with passers-by giving us constant compliments. I’ve started growing vegetables too, but only a small amount at the side because I don’t want to take over all the space.

“I hope we’ll be here for a very long time. The next thing for us to do is to invest in some double glazing, as the only downside is the noise from the street!”

Kaori, how do you define modern living?

“I think it means you are liberated from the concept of how you’re supposed to live. You could be living in whatever style suits you: house sharing, a house exchange, living one third of the year in Japan, one third in Goa, one third in Edinburgh and London which is what some friends of mine do. For me, it’s a great example of how to live in a modern way.”

Is there a home for sale on The Modern House website that has caught your eye?

“It’s got to be the Varden Street townhouse by Pedro da Costa Felgueiras. I love Georgian interiors and the house is full of period character, which I admire.”