The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop

Here is a fully illustrated examination of the use of colour in clay, outlining its history and exploring the styles and techniques of the leading modern makers. In nerikomi pottery, a ceramicist takes two or more different coloured clays and combines them to create a decorative scheme that is then fired into the very fabric of the piece. Most often the coloured designs or patterns – which may be coiled, marbled, geometric, mosaic or naturalistic – can be seen right through the piece, inside and out, the carefully engineered design permeating the structure, as opposed to using an external coat of glaze for the decoration. In this exploration of the approach, renowned ceramicist Thomas Hoadley explains various coloured-clay techniques, defining nerikomi and its close relations neriage and agateware.