Made by the sea.

Nothing exsists.

TACOOGAMA Lazarus

What these are ?

A boat docked at a harbor, filled with numerous traditional Japanese ceramic pots, with more pots lined along the dock, and a scenic background of water, boats, and hillside houses.
A boat docked at a harbor, filled with numerous traditional Japanese ceramic pots, with more pots lined along the dock, and a scenic background of water, boats, and hillside houses.

Fishermen in Japan have caught octopus with clay pots for more than two thousand years. The pots are lowered on ropes, and the octopus chooses them as shelter.

Each pot spends three to five years on the seabed. Barnacles settle on it, shells attach, and the current wears the clay. No two come back the same.

We do not shape, glaze or repair them. We rinse away the salt, clean them, and seal them with a clear coating so that what the sea has made will last.

We call them Lazarus — the pots that came back from the sea.

The fisherman

自然⁠、質感⁠、アイスランド⁠、ム⁠ーデ⁠ィ⁠ー⁠、写真⁠、異世界のようなアイスランド⁠、地下⁠、冥界⁠、異世界⁠、森林⁠、
People on a fishing boat handling fishing equipment near other boats docked at a marina.
People on a fishing boat handling fishing equipment near other boats docked at a marina.

Every pot begins as a working tool. When it comes up covered in barnacles, it is no longer good for fishing.

The fisherman hands it to us. We hand him a new one, at no cost. He goes back to sea with a clean pot. We keep the one the sea has finished.

Nothing is taken from the sea that was not already there.

We are

the last maker

Overlooking the ocean with small islands in the distance under a partly cloudy sky.
Overlooking the ocean with small islands in the distance under a partly cloudy sky.
A person kneeling by a brick fireplace, tending to a fire with burning wood.

TACOOGAMA, in JApan is the last remaining maker of clay octopus pots in Japan. The kiln has fired pots for fishermen for generations.

Each Lazarus sold pays for the new pots we give away. That is what keeps the kiln firing — and keeps clay, not plastic, in the water.

How we work

A person on a boat releasing a buoy into the water near a rocky shoreline and wooded hills under a partly cloudy sky.

We release about one hundred pieces a year. When they are gone, they are gone until the next season.

We sell outright, never on consignment. First orders can be small — three pieces are enough to begin.

Lazarus is available only through a small number of galleries and stores in Europe. They see photographs of each piece, choose the ones they want, and set their own prices.

ビ⁠ーチの背景の質感
A decorative object made of small shells attached to a rock, mounted on a round base, placed on a wooden table next to a blue vase and a red container, with a painting of a forest scene and a table lamp nearby.

Back to sand

A clay pot that breaks on the seabed returns to sand.

A plastic pot that breaks stays in the sea for centuries.

That is why we still make them the old way.

Where to find us

■Vi kommer til Danmark for at finde vores første forhandlere.
Vil du se stykkerne selv, så skriv til os.

【2027】
Copenhagen, June 2027.
Be the first to see them.

【2026】

Shown at Formland, Herning — August 2026.
Stockists to be announced.

Member

A man standing outdoors near a marina, holding a large clay pot, smiling, with boats and industrial buildings in the background.
A man standing outdoors near a marina, holding a large clay pot, smiling, with boats and industrial buildings in the background.

Tomohiro HISANO

The last potter in Japan still making clay octopus pots.

A person wearing a half-face mask and blue traditional Japanese clothing holds a bouquet of flowers in front of a temple with stone steps and lanterns, surrounded by trees.
A person wearing a half-face mask and blue traditional Japanese clothing holds a bouquet of flowers in front of a temple with stone steps and lanterns, surrounded by trees.

TACOOTSUBO (octopus pot) MAN

The clown as a story teller

■office

TACOOGAMA Inc.

4-26, higashiniiryo-chou, Hofu, Yamaguchi, JAPAN