
sione
Modern beauty and traditional arts
Curated by artist SHOWKO, Sione brings to you the magical beauty of traditional crafts with a contemporary feel.
Sione is the Kyoto-based brand created by artist SHOWKO in 2009. It runs a flagship store located in Kyoto, a few steps from the Silver Pavilion (Ginkaku-ji).
The brand is characterized by its white pottery with gold-color paintings, and by SHOWKO's pieces of art.
From the tea ceremony to art
Sione was born from the mind of artist SHOWKO, who comes from a long dinasty of Makuzu-yaki potters–a type of pottery that specializes in the making of goods for the tea ceremony.
The Sione collection can be easily recognized due to the perfect-white base color of its products, obtained through the use of naturally white clay and without the addition of any colorings, like in the Sakura sake set. SHOWKO makes the best use of the color by approaching it as though a white canvas, creating designs that exploit the lines of the object. The effect is that of vibrant decorations, which combine the two-dimensional style of traditional Japanese pottery with more dynamic paintings, bringing an almost three-dimensional feel to life.
The brand offers plenty of examples of this approach, such as in SHOWKO's personal pieces of art (see the Aka-Obi bowl.)
By the application of SHOWKO's peculiar style, the brand offers looks that combine feels of classic and modern, Japanese and Western, making it a very versatile collection that blends perfectly in any kind of household.
The concept behind the Sione collections and art is what SHOWKO calls 'Readable Ceramics':
"SIONE ceramics (...) tell stories. We view them as letters to the future."
The link between art, design and story-telling is expressed in the Pottery Books, which see plates presented in boxes that perfectly resemble books, including the series and book "title" (the product's name) on the spine.


SHOWKO: artistic crafts*woman*ship
SHOWKO was born into a family of Makuzu-yaki potters.
She established Sione in 2009. The original brand provided the chance for the artist to apply her own creativity to a craft she had grown to know well, gradually becoming the ceramic-painting artist that is now known as SHOWKO.
The first flagship store opened in Kyoto in 2016.
SHOWKO has participated in exhibitions and events worldwide, including Taiwan, Paris, Milan and China.