Makoto Sato
Biography
1978 Born in Okinawa
2001 Graduated from Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts, Department of Ceramics
2008 Studied in Germany, traveled around Europe including time in Spain
2012 Opened Bonoho, a coffee and tableware store
2019 Launched her career as a ceramic artist
Makoto Sato and her husband, Naomichi, who are both ceramic artists, live in a spacious house that serves as their home, studio, and store located in a residential area surrounded by abundant nature in southern Okinawa.
Bonoho is her husband Naomichi's trading name and is also the name of a cafe they used to run in her home until a few years ago. After closing the cafe around the time of the birth of their child, Makoto had been seeking avenues to express her creativity, such as cooking and sewing. She'd been helping her husband with his pottery work for a long time and decided to start her own work again.
Her works are made of red clay and fine dots, just like the African and Native American earthenware that she is drawn to. The primitive and wild elements and the unique graphics of the dots express her distinct world in her mysterious creations.
Rather than having a design in mind, she draws by following the inspiration that comes to her at that moment, so all of her works are truly one-of-a-kind. Makoto has always loved the densely packed look of things, and frequently makes large numbers of objects without thinking about their final form. The dots on her creations may be seen as the culmination of her expression of density.
