Isak Isaksson – A Short Biography

Isak Isaksson was born in 1949 in Östersund in Sweden. He fell in love with the turntable, clay, and glazes during his adolescence. Through hard work and experimentation, he became a self-educated and freestanding potter of the highest quality. His studio moved around over the years: Västerås, Gotland, Stockholm, Nacka, and finally Bergshamra.

Isak during the 1990s with a majestic art piece

Vase with crystalline glaze colored by copper carbonate

The Artistic Expression

Isak’s artistry is strongly associated with high fired stoneware and porcelain. The pottery is often thrown into shapes originating from Classical antiquity. The numerous glazes are playful and multifaceted. His artistic hallmark is crystalline glazes where large macro crystals create dramatic effects.

Bowl with crystalline glaze colored by cobalt oxide

Close-up of crystalline glaze colored by cobalt oxide

The ”Impossible” Red Gold

Isak Isaksson’s most acknowledged glaze is the reduction fired red crystalline glaze. It was developed over eight years through thousands of firings, and with the help of a scanning electron microscope. Many considered the crimson glaze with its striking macro crystals an impossibility, but Isaksson proved that this bumblebee could sure fly under the right conditions.

Vase with reduction fired red crystalline glaze

Isak at the turntable in the 2000s

East Asian Influence and Success

Another of Isaac's ceramic specialties is chawan - a traditional bowl used in tea ceremonies in East Asia. He was awarded the 1994 ”Sen Sōshitsu Prize” at the Tankosha Biennale in Kyoto for this type of bowl. The winning piece was a delicate chawan with lovely reduction fired red-gray crystal glaze.

Gift from Sen Sōshitsu XV at the prize ceremony in 1994

Exhibition catalog with the winner contribution for the "Sen Sōshitsu Prize" in 1994

A Master of Pottery

In 2019, Isak Isaksson was i awarded the title of Certified Ceramic Master - the highest recognition for potters in Sweden. Isak is now represented at the Swedish National Museum of Art and Design. In his current studio in Bergshamra north of Stockholm, ceramic creation continues almost every day. New ovens are being built, new forms are tested, and new glazes are mixed. An artist does not retire!

Isak in the Bergshamra studio in 2018

Apples, vases, and bowls lined up on the edge of one of many ovens

An Overview of Isak Isaksson's Glazes

• the chemical composition of the glaze
• the type of pottery (stoneware or porcelain)
• the schedule for the oven temperature
• the burning in oxidizing (with oxygen) or reducing environment (without oxygen).