About “Oiya”

Oiya is a project to create novel building materials by harnessing the tile production techniques of Awaji Island in Hyogo Prefecture. To achieve this, three pottery companies on the island with their own established techniques have come together to rally around the concept of “Feeling a connection with the Island” The collective goal of these companies is to draw on the special properties of “Awaji smoked roofing tiles,” each of which possesses a unique appearance depending on how it was fired, in order create products with superior quality and design with tiles taking on different forms or being used in different ways. Oiya was inspired by the word “oy,” which means “island” in Scandinavia. This project also represents an attempt to consider how “new tiles” can be passed on to the next generation while conveying our appreciation for the earth of Awaji Island.