• Kazue makes ceramic pieces that blur the line between utility and decoration
• She was the first woman to receive the Kikuchi Biennale Grand Prix
• She developed gin-shitsu-sai, a technique combining silver and lacquer

Kazue Wakabayashi found the full potential of her creative voice when she began working with clay, which transformed her passion for crafts into a 3D form. "I was always meant to be in the art world. For as long as I can remember, I have been holding a paintbrush or pencil," she says. Kazue's formative experience studying ceramics in Italy widened her perspective and helped her merge cultural influences into a more liberated approach to making. She now explores the space between art and craft, seeking to transcend the binary concept of function versus non-function. She embraces a more fluid expression that resists categorisation. Kazue is the first woman ceramicist to receive the Kikuchi Biennale Grand Prix, as well as the East Japan Traditional Craft Competition award.