The stereotypical image of a chadogu (Way of Tea) potter is of an elderly gentleman with a wispy beard and sharp piercing eyes, clad in a samue (artist's working clothes). You would assume he had come from a family dating back generations and that his lineage was of supreme pride and importance in Japan's tea world. Owning one of his works would be a sign of taste and status in this country's brand-conscious society.
Now let's throw all those images out through the shoji door and imagine this: A strapping chadogu potter who hails from White Plains, New York; he is steeped in chadogu traditions, has a kiln in the hills outside Kyoto and in Concord, Mass., and creates chadogu based on age-old formulas with an added something that gives birth to works of distinction.
Sound far-fetched? Well, there is such a potter and his name is Richard Milgrim. He'll be exhibiting some 70 of his chadogu works in Tokyo from Sept. 14-20 in the sixth floor gallery at the Mitsukoshi store in Nihombashi. Milgrim is one of a select number of western potters wokring in Japan. He began studying here 25 years ago and worked as an apprentice with master potters in Kyoto, Hagi, Bizen and Mino before establishing his own studio in 1984.