Originally from the Japanese island of Shikoku, Brighton-based ceramicist Hiroko Aono-Billson began working with clay over 30 years ago while studying at Morley College in London. Influenced by her mother’s collection of Japanese ceramics and the Mingei movement, which translates to ‘folk craft’, her work blends terracotta earthenware with the sgraffito technique, where hand-built forms are finished with decorative slips. Her signature motif, the Harmony Bird, has long woven through her creative life, appearing on everything from her daughter’s T-shirts to embroidered handbags—and now, on her distinctive slipware pottery.