Meet The Makers: The Japanese-born potter making Yorkshirefolk cherish their crockery

There was a time not so long ago when tableware was displayed as the prized possession of households across Britain; fine china used only on special occasions and promised one day to younger relatives proudly adorned dining room cabinets. 
More recently, many of those inherited collections have found
themselves forgotten or retired. In the twenty-first century, screen time and throw away culture has eroded the ritual of sitting around a table together at meal times.
In many homes people opt for teas-on-knees while ready-meal packaging and mass-produced supermarket-bought plates have taken the place of the previously treasured dishes.
It's a lack of connection to our tableware that Japanese born potter
Makiko Hastings noticed when she first moved to the UK. 
Working from her studio in Knaresborough, she hopes her lovingly
crafted wheel-thrown pieces will encourage a new way of using and
cherishing our crockery.
“One way of looking at pottery is that some people might want to have a collection and treat it like art to look-at, but I want my pottery to be used in daily life,” she explained. 
“That’s because the food culture in Japan is quite deep. Table gathering was an important part of my childhood.”
“Over here everything was on the one plate and then quite casually it was just eat and done with - or otherwise people have set tableware and everything is just pristine, and for me that’s kind-of too polite or too posh. It’s not really living life.
“I want my work to be part of daily life so people feel comfortable with it and cherish it.”
Makiko embraces the slow process of pottery.
New collections are never rushed to meet commercial demands - “ideas just come when you’re not trying to think. It just comes when you’re on a bus or walking and then eventually I’ll formulate how I want it.”