Shōji Hamada

Hamada decorated with gestures. His best-known trick was to pour a ladle of glaze across a bowl in one sweep, a pattern taking about 15 seconds, and when asked whether that was too quick for the price he said it had taken 60 years and 15 seconds. He settled in the pottery village of Mashiko, worked with its local clay, glazes and craftsmen, and fired a large climbing kiln with neighbours' help. Co-founder of the Leach Pottery at St Ives, he was named one of Japan's first Living National Treasures in 1955.