Arita Será (Detailed)
Arita Será is a large open-air shopping mall that specializes in Arita ware. The facilities were originally created in 1975 for members of the Cooperative of Arita Ceramics Wholesalers to use as storage and a wholesale market. Retailers and restaurateurs came to buy large quantities of stock directly from wholesalers. However, as the demand for porcelain from Arita declined in the 1990s and 2000s, many kilns began selling directly to customers and many wholesalers transitioned to business-to-consumer sales.
In 2018, the commercial park was reborn as Arita Será. Será is a word combining the Japanese pronunciations of “seller” and “ceramics.” The mall was designed as a space to spend leisure time while shopping for ceramics. In addition to the twenty-two specialty shops, there is a restaurant and boutique hotel. Arita Será is the largest Arita porcelain shopping mall in Japan, and likely the only one of its type in the world. The Arita Porcelain Market, one of the town’s largest events and the largest ceramics fair in the country, is held here every spring.
Each shop carries products from multiple kilns, and their selections include daily use tableware, commercial items, gifts, and high-end art objects. The managing cooperative of Arita Será has also worked with some of the kilns in Arita to create Takumi-no-Kura, an original line of household ceramics. Created to reflect the needs of producers, retailers, and consumers, items from the line are available in some shops for set prices.