About

My name is Lauren Nguyen and I am a ceramicist working from the Bay Area, California, and Tokyo area, Japan. I began my ceramics journey while living in Tokyo, and the foundation of my pottery training and philosophy is grounded in my time there and the rich ceramic culture of Japan. I was lucky to be able to get my start in a country with an incredible history of pottery, and immersed myself in learning about the innumerable styles of Japanese pottery as well as modern techniques. I now split my time (and my making) between the San Francisco Bay Area where I was born and raised, and the Tokyo area. My work explores the tension between precise craftsmanship and the wild, raw nature of clay. As a ceramicist straddling two sides of an ocean, it seems appropriate that I’ve always been interested in contradictions and dichotomies: between modern and ancient, restrained and free, natural and manmade. My ceramic practice allows me to explore the tensions that have shaped my life and express physically what it means to live between and across different cultures.