A Frenchman has published a Karatsu ware book after becoming friends with a local potter.

While searching for ancient kilns to collect pieces of Karatsu earthenware, Frenchman Francois Villemin spotted a man doing some washing in a mountain creek here.

He asked Masahito Minamimori, a potter, for directions. That chance encounter in 2008 would turn into a close friendship and working collaboration forged over their shared love of Karatsu pottery.

Villemin, 64, who resides in Paris, recently published a book exploring Karatsu ware, a rare endeavor to cover the subject in a foreign language.

The book, in English, is titled “The Golden Age of Karatsu Stoneware: Fourth Quarter of the Sixteenth Century to the Early Seventeenth Century.”

The 192-page book, featuring hundreds of Villemin’s photos and illustrations, is the culmination of his collaboration with Minamimori, a 65-year-old potter in Karatsu, Saga Prefecture, home to the renowned pottery.

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