Ryuta Fukumura is the second-generation ceramicist of Nichigetsu Kiln (日月窯), a family studio his father established on a hillside in Ukiha in Fukuoka Prefecture in southern Japan. Raised inside that environment, Fukumura went on to study ceramics formally before returning to take the wheel himself.

A pivotal year came in 2015, when he traveled to New York and spent a month working in a Brooklyn studio alongside ceramicists from around the world. He returned to Ukiha and began experimenting freely with mineral glazes, silver and iron finishes, and materials he had not previously considered. The metallic surfaces he is now known for emerged from that period.

Fukumura works across two distinct modes. His silver and metallic glaze pieces are fired in electric and gas kilns, where heat can be precisely controlled. His ash-fired work goes into the traditional Nobori-gama climbing kiln, where flame and wood ash move unpredictably and leave their own mark on the clay. He does not sketch forms in advance; shapes arrive through the hands at the wheel. In recent years he has turned his focus toward how food reads against his surfaces, stepping back from self-expression to let the plate become a quiet canvas for the cook.