Yo Thom was born in Tokyo. She came to England in 1996 to study 3D design at the Kent Institute of Art and Design. After her introductory year, she chose ceramics and completed an MA in Ceramics in 2000. Whilst studying at the college, she also worked for a studio potter in London and continued her apprenticeship for a further two years after graduation.

Yo first set up her own studio in Deptford, SE London in 2004 and produced stoneware and porcelain tableware and some wood-fired pieces. She relocated to Shaftesbury, Dorset in 2009 and now lives and works in a converted cricket pavilion in Fontmell Magna.

The Dorset landscape has become another source of inspiration for her.

Her work is thrown and hand-built functional stoneware with influence from the traditions of both British and Japanese pottery and food culture. She aims to create tableware, which will become “clothes for food” as Rosanjin, a famous Japanese potter and restaurateur once said. Yo’s pots perform their function as tableware in harmony with the food whilst retaining their strong personality.

Yo has become an established maker in the UK and her pieces have a distinct voice which she continues to develop