Akiko Hirai was born in Japan March 1970. She initially studied cognitive psychology in Japan and obtained her degree in Bachelor of letters before coming to England. During her first visit to England to study English language, she was attracted by the English culture and complexity of multi cultural society in London. It made her aware of her own cultural influence in her visual perception. Her interests lead her to her second visit to England in 1999. She met many English potters and learned how to work with clay, soon after that she took a degree course in ceramics at the University of Westminster, then onto graduation from Central St. Martins. After her graduation Akiko found her studio in The Chocolate Factory N16 in Stoke Newington amongst other varying artists where she now practises her ceramic work.

Akiko makes practical ware using the Japanese tradition of allowing the clay to show how it wants to be fired itself. Her work also allows the viewers to find out the language of the objects in their own ways. She focuses on the interaction between the objects and the viewers. Her work and unique approach to ceramic work have had much high praise and her work is becoming more in demand from her commissions in England and world-wide.

"I have often been told that my work was 'very Japanese' when I received feedback at my exhibitions. If you are in your own cultural environment, you would never realise that what makes you yourself characteristic of your own nationality. Whether directly or indirectly, I think this is affected with the air of history that you breathe as you grow up.

Japanese society is a society that allowed the co-existence of many different religions. Japanese people's beliefs in life are sometimes a mixture of many different religions, philosophies and myths. For instance, although I do not consider myself as a Zen Buddhist, I can recognise some essences of Zen in my perception. I also recognise my tendency of personifying non-human objects including animals, plants or just things. That might be an influence of animism in Shinto. I am not able to analyse all the cultural influences I have received. Therefore I am introducing a history that I think is more directly relevant to ceramics.

It was in the latter part of the 8th century a unique aesthetics began to be seen in Japan. Before Heian period (794-1191), Japanese culture had followed regularly systemised models based on symmetry and regularity in art, architecture and other forms of culture. When it came to the Heian period modification of these models started to be seen. The cultural modification was considered in correspondence with the following elements; time (toki), place (tokoro) and people (hito, people in this context has a specific meaning. It defines Buddhist monks.) Due to this cultural trend, the aesthetics of asymmetry and irregularity had appeared in architecture and artefacts in Japan in this era. In a later period a Zen monk Sennorikyu (1522-1591) established "chanoyu" (tea ceremony) and the trend of this unique aesthetics was systemised and came into vogue. This cultural establishment has influenced many cultural individuals and spread over many aspects in Japanese culture over the centuries."

Things that are completely perfect and things that are completely broken appear to be in two opposite conditions, yet two conditions are the same concept as a form of completion. There is no movement in these two conditions. The waxing and the waning moon contain an expectation of completion whether it is going to be the start or the end. We are seeing the moon at the same time we are seeing our perception of time or whatever it is, we see something progressing. To some my work may appear to be imperfect because perfection contains only one message which is clearly defined by the maker. My attempt is to create the condition of progress in my work. Something ambiguous, unsettled and imaginative so that the user of my work sees many different aspects from the object.