King Houndekpinkou is a contemporary ceramic artist that works from France, Japan and Benin.

Born in Montreuil, France to Beninese parents in 1987, Houndekpinkou grew up in the suburbs of Paris. His adolescence was shaped by his discovery of Japanese pop culture, anime and video games. A trip to Japan in 2012 awakened an interest in the country’s ancestral pottery, whose ceremonial approach to craft and Shintoism resonated strongly with the animism of Beninese Voudou.

In 2016, Houndekpinkou established Terres Jumelles (Twin Soils), a cultural programme aiming to unite Benin and Japan through the practice of traditional and contemporary ceramics. He is a member of the International Academy of Ceramics (IAC) and works extensively in France, Japan and Benin. He is also a member of the Homo Faber Network of the Michelangelo Foundation based in Geneva, Switzerland.

His work is regularly exhibited internationally at art and design fairs, museum exhibitions and biennales in Australia, Benin, Hong-Kong, Japan, Morocco, Senegal, Spain, South Korea and USA. His work forms part of the permanent collections of the Grassi Museum of Applied Art in Germany, the Gyeonggi Ceramic Museum Korea Ceramic Foundation in South Korea and the Boca Raton Museum of Art in the United States among others.