Michikawa Shōzō (Shozo Michikawa was born in Hokkaido, the most northern area of Japan. He studied at Aoyama Gakuin University, from where he graduated in 1975. He initially had a career in business, but took up evening classes in art where he discovered his talent and passion for pottery. A few years later, Michikawa made the decision to give up his life in business and to focus on creating ceramics. In July 2005, he was given the rare honour of being the first Japanese artist to have a solo exhibition of his art in The Forbidden City in Beijing, at the Taimiao. Michikawa has exhibited widely in Japan and around the world, including the Philippines, Mongolia, France, China, New York and London. Michikawa’s work is also in the collections of Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania; the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg; the Modern Glass & Ceramic Museum, Coburg, Germany; Shimada City Museum, Japan; Qingling Temple, Xi’an, China; China-Japan Exchange Center, Beijing, China; University of Wales, Aberystwyth.)