Hiroko Ishida was born in Kisarazu City, Japan in 1949. After studying French, design, color theory and textiles at university, she continued exploring her passions and honing her skills: as a weaver, where she specialized in color dying to create hand-woven fiber art; as chef-owner of “Kabocha”, a vegetarian restaurant in Tokyo celebrated for its unique dishes and presentation; as a traveller in Europe, where she deepened her love of fashion, particularly French haute couture’s highly stylized forms; and as a student of Japanese tea ceremony where she began to learn about ceramics and glazing. 

​

Since immigrating to the United States in 2007, Hiroko has been creating functional and sculptural ceramic pieces from her Sonoma studio. She also continues to study Japanese tea ceremony (Chado) and Japanese flower arrangement (Ikebana).