Ura-sabaku is a wall composition made up of cut and textured pieces of black chamotte stoneware. The shapes are inspired by an old wooden puzzle found at the back of a drawer in our family home. They have been enlarged and graphically reworked. Their texture and shape also evoke hiragana and the black of Japan. Ura-sabaku – in Japanese 裏砂漠 – is a volcanic desert on Izu Ō-shima, in the sub-prefecture of Ōshima, Japan. It is one of the few desert formations in the country. It is therefore made up of black earth.