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4911 Busbee Rd.
Seagrove, NC 27341
USA

Studio Touya is a handmade pottery studio located in Seagrove NC where Hitomi and Takuro Shibata set up studio and built Japanese style wood kiln. Our focus is to make simple& functional pottery by using local wild clay and wood firing technique. We named our pottery as "Touya" when we started our small pottery studio in Shigaraki, Japan, and it literary means "pottery house" in Japanese which we really like.

Studio Touya Web Top.jpg

Studio Touya

Studio Touya is a handmade pottery studio located in Seagrove NC where Hitomi and Takuro Shibata set up studio and built Japanese style wood kiln. Our focus is to make simple& functional pottery by using local wild clay and wood firing technique. We named our pottery as "Touya" when we started our small pottery studio in Shigaraki, Japan, and it literary means "pottery house" in Japanese which we really like.

Hitomi and Takuro Shibata are potters from Shigaraki, Japan, and set up STUDIO TOUYA in Seagrove, NC, USA.

We make handmade pottery and sculptural work with using natural material, wild clays, and wood firing techniques.

Our pottery gallery is remaining closed to the public except special events.


Touya UPCOMIng News and events



Artist Conversation: Radical Ceramicists in North Carolina (Hitomi)

Wednesday, August 27, 2025 6:00 p.m.–7:30 p.m, Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, NC

More Info:

https://ackland.org/exhibition/radical-clay-contemporary-women-artists-from-japan/


Book Release: Wild Clay, Creating ceramics and glazes from natural and found resources, Written by Matt Levy, Hitomi and Takuro Shibata, published by Bloomsbury Publishing and herbert press

Takuro and Hitomi have written our first book “Wild Clay”, with co-author, Matt Levy, and it’s released on Oct 25th, 2022.

This is our wild clay story and our journey from Japan to US, and from the past to today.

https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/wild-clay-9781789940923/

Special thanks to our dear friends: Josh DeWeese, Dean Adams, John Neely, Randy Edmonson, Bruce Gholson, Ed Henneke, Nancy Gottovi, Mark Zellers and Kate Oggel for their big support. And many thanks to our pottery friends in US and overseas for telling wonderful clay stories for this book.

Cover photo: NC wild raw clays by Takuro Shibata


ZOOM Gallery Talk Shigaraki: Contemporary Artists on an Ancient Tradition, Recorded February 23, 2023

Hosted by Joan B Mirviss LTD

Produced and edited by Bonnie B Lee, Joan B Mirviss LTD.

https://youtu.be/ygpirecncs8

PANELISTS: PETER CALLAS, artist based in New Jersey, US. HITOMI and TAKURO SHIBATA, artists based in North Carolina, US. OTANI SHIRO, artist based in Shigaraki, Japan. NATSU OYOBE, Curator of Asian Art, University of Michigan Museum of Art, MI with LOUISE CORT, Curator Emerita of Ceramics, Freer Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. Moderated by JOAN MIRVISS


Studio Talk 2022: Process and Perspectives in Clay 2022

Ceramics Monthly and Pottery Making Illustrated

Article: Telling Unique Stories by Hitomi Shibata

You can read online for free!

https://ceramicartsnetwork.org/ceramics-monthly/ceramics-monthly-issue/Studio-Talk-Process-and-Perspectives-in-Clay-22


Past Event:

Conference: CONTAF, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Aug 6-8, 2025

Workshop: Wild Clay, Making and Place, John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasston, NC, July 13-26, 2025

New England Wood Fire Conference, New Haven, CT, June 27, 28, 2025

Woodfire NC Main Conference, Starworks NC, Star, NC, May 22-25, 2025

Woodfire NC Pre-conference, Studio Touya, Seagrove, NC, May 17-21, 2025

Celebration of Seagrove Potters, Spring Pottery Tour, Seagrove, NC, April 25, 26 and 27, 2025

Exhibition: Of Hand and Earth, FOCUS GALLERY, Penland School of Craft, Penland, NC, Spring 2025

Another Clay Community: Seagrove potters of NC, Public Works Art Center, Summerville, SC, Spring 2025


Takuro and Hitomi Shibata “Whirlwind” 14”h x 20.5”w