Noticed recently: the home of a 14th-generation ceramicist and her partner, a writer and photographer, in the tiny town of Union, Maine. Ceramicist Hanako Nakazato comes from a famous family of potters in the port city of Karatsu, Japan: The area’s famous Karatsu Ware pottery is synonymous with the Nakazato name, and Nakazato’s grandfather, Tarouemon Nakazato XII, was named a Living National Treasure by Japan in the 1970s. Having apprenticed with her father, himself a famous potter, but unable to carry on the family business as a woman, Nakazato opened her own studio, Monohanako (meaning “Hanako on her own”); she and her partner, Prairie Stuart-Wolff, now split their time between Karatsu and Union, a small town just inland from the bustling coastal towns of Camden and Rockport. We’re particularly enamored of the way they’ve inflected their decidedly 1990s Maine home with Japanese style, much like Nakazato’s work, inspired by old Japanese pottery and Maine enamel campware alike. Here’s a glimpse inside.
Photography by Erin Little. Follow Nakazato at @monohanako and Stuart-Wolff @cultivateddays.
![nakazato and stuart wolff found the \1990s build in \2009 while spending the su 17](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/hanako-nakazato-union-maine-living-room-2-erin-little-733x1100.jpg)
The living area has a woodstove and large windows. Note the coffee table: It’s a soapstone counter from a school science lab, sink included, found at an architectural salvage shop in Vermont. The couple had a local machine shop make an aluminum base for it.
![a glass fronted barrister bookcase—found at an antiques shop near belfas 18](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/hanako-nakazato-union-maine-cupboard-erin-little-733x1100.jpg)
![nakazato and stuart wolff converted the existing dining room—and its bui 19](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/hanako-nakazato-union-maine-table-and-shelves-erin-little-733x1100.jpg)
![shelves hold nakazato\2\17;s ceramics, which are inspired by maine and j 20](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/hanako-nakazato-union-maine-ceramics-on-shelves-erin-little-733x1100.jpg)
![stacks of nakazato\2\17;s work are cushioned by small cloths to prevent 21](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/hanako-nakazato-union-maine-ceramics-erin-little-733x1100.jpg)
![a quiet vignette of the couple\2\17;s collections. 22](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/hanako-nakazato-union-maine-shelf-detail-erin-little-733x489.jpg)
![nakazato\2\17;s ridged bowls in subtle shades. 23](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/hanako-nakazato-union-maine-ceramics-2-erin-little-733x489.jpg)
![the kitchen is tucked beside the staircase; the couple made only a few sm 24](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/hanako-nakazato-union-maine-kitchen-erin-little-733x1100.jpg)
![nakazato at work in her maine studio, a converted garage at the end of a dirt r 25](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/hanako-nakazato-union-maine-at-workerin-little-733x1100.jpg)
More in Maine:
- The New New England: A 1754 Cape on Spruce Head in Maine
- The Soot House: Conjuring the Ghosts of Old New England on Spruce Head in Maine
- A Cottage Reborn in Coastal Maine
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