WOOD FIRING KILN / ANAGAMA

Early 2025 After the Wood Kiln Firing Workshop in Oxfordshire with Svend Bayer , Robin's dream of building an Anagama wood firing kiln started to become more vivid in his mind. (From his wife's point of view) Robin absolutely loved the whole experience of the workshop - the packing of the kiln, its look and shape, the intense heat & smell of burning wood... He told me he was captivated by both the physical labour and the magic of firing, and he met a bunch of pottery enthus

5th January 2025 We hired a car to visit Takashi Tanimoto in Iga, Japan. He is the eldest son of the late renowned Iga potter Kei Tanimoto, and Robin worked for his brother Yoh Tanimoto in the early 1990s. At the time, Robin didn't know anything about Iga-yaki (伊賀焼) - a traditional pottery from Iga, Mie Prefecture, known for its rustic beauty, strength, and natural ash glaze. Made from coarse local clay and wood-fired, it embodies Japan’s wabi-sabi aesthetic and is prized

8th February 2024 Robin came across “June Wood Firing Kiln Course with Svend Bayer!”  on the Oxford Kilns website while browsing pottery-related things online and decided to book a place for himself. It was easier said than done — the ticket was quite pricey, and he wasn’t sure if it would be worth the time and money. He has been aware of 'Oxford Kiln project', but had no idea what it is about. We first met Svend over twenty years ago at his house and studio in Devon, where