The bonsai pottery of Nao Tokutake – Bonsai Tonight

One of the highlights of attending the U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition, held every other year in Rochester, New York, is meeting and catching up with people from across the bonsai community.

As luck would have it, Andrew Robson introduced me to Portland ceramicist Nao Tokutake at this year’s event. Nao toured the exhibition with Andrew and me and then sat down with us to record an episode for the Bonsai Wire Podcast.

One of Nao’s pots was on display at the exhibit. It was a modern take on a bag shape that accompanied Dennis Vojtilla’s award-winning Washington Hawthorn (see the tree here).

Modern bag pot at the 7th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition

The photos below are from Nao’s website. He works with a variety of shapes, sizes, and glazes.

Heavy reduced iron rectangle

(this and subsequent photos courtesy Nao Tokutake)

Red and green oval

American Canton

Reduced rectangles

Slanted unglazed rectangle

Drippy sandy indent rectangle

Unglazed bag pot

Red and blue slanted rectangle

Unglazed indent rectangle

You can learn more about Nao’s work at tokutakebonsai.com.

Listen to the Bonsai Wire Podcast interview with Nao at bonsaiwirepodcast.com.