From Bizen to Aiguafreda: Musubu visits MK Pottery Studio

MK Pottery Studio is located at Masia Can Brull, a rural estate in the municipality of Aiguafreda, in the Vallès Oriental region, about 50 km north of Barcelona. There it develops most of its courses, residencies, and activities around wood-fired kiln construction and ceramics.

The project, founded by Magali Kivatinetz, was created with the aim of generating training and exchange experiences around contemporary ceramics, with a strong emphasis on wood firing, artisanal processes, and immersive learning. The studio organizes courses and residencies in both Europe and Japan, bringing together ceramists from different countries to learn directly from masters and local traditions.

The collaboration with Taiga Mori

There is a strong relationship between MK Pottery Studio and Taiga Mori, a Japanese ceramist born in 1974 in Imbe, in the city of Bizen, considered the birthplace of Bizen ceramics (Bizen-yaki), one of the six great historical ceramic traditions of Japan. Mori, heir to one of the six historical families of this tradition, is internationally recognized for his work with wood-fired kilns and for opening Bizen ceramics to international exchange, contributing his technical and cultural knowledge.

Magali Kivatinetz, for her part, acts as a bridge between Japan and Europe. According to both projects, their collaboration began during a work stay in Bizen and evolved into an alliance to organize workshops, wood-firing courses, and immersive experiences in both Japan and Europe. The common goal is to bring the Bizen tradition closer to an international community without disconnecting it from its cultural context, fostering learning based on practice, collective work, and exchange between artists.

This collaboration has already given rise to several initiatives:

– immersive experiences in Bizen with wheel work, clay gathering, and firing in anagama kilns;

– courses and masterclasses taught jointly in London, Barcelona, and various locations in Denmark;

– the construction of an anagama kiln in Catalonia, driven by MK Pottery Studio with the advice and participation of Taiga Mori, conceived as a permanent space for learning and international exchange.

Overall, this collaboration is not only about teaching workshops, but about building an international network that connects the ceramic tradition of Bizen with contemporary European practice, with process, community, and wood firing as central elements of learning.

About Magali Kivatinetz

Magali Kivatinetz is a cultural manager, art educator, and ceramist, with extensive international experience in museums and cultural institutions. In recent years she has focused her practice on contemporary ceramics, researching artisanal processes, wood-fired kiln firing, and Japanese ceramic traditions, especially the mingei and kintsugi philosophies. Her work combines the creation of utilitarian and artistic pieces with training, workshop facilitation, and building communities around ceramics as a tool for expression, learning, and encounter.