Kutsu-gata Kuro-Oribe Chawan

This kutsu-gata Kuro-Oribe chawan was designed and produced as a collaboration between Tezumi and Hiroshige Katō of Kasen Kiln. Inspired by the shape and style of masterpiece Waraya chawan, each bowl was hand-built (手びねり - tebineri) and hand-carved (刳り抜き - kurinuki) into a delightfully playful kutsu-gata shape and hand-painted with an iron underglaze design which combines geometric patterns with naturalistic scrollwork. After glazing and firing, each bowl was soaked for two days in a solution called tochishibu (栃渋) which is made from horse chestnut caps. The result is a staining effect which softens the white of the glaze, emphasizes the crazing and darkens the exposed clay.

Please note that due to the organic nature of hand-carving, glazing, and painting, there are variations between pieces, with each bowl being unique in shape and design. Five pieces are pictured above to display these natural variations.