This afternoon, I stopped by a gallery to check out some sake cups that I ordered like 15 months ago. I was disappointed with the cups and passed on purchasing any. However, upstairs there was a show of a young and up and coming potter named Akira Koie (鯉江明) whose work I liked so-so. He had some delightful little pots that could either be small flower vases for a single flower (called ichirinzashi, in Japanese), or could be used as a ‘tokkuri‘ sake flask. I found 3 that I liked but couldn’t find me ideal piece.
What appealed to me:
• overall shape of the vessel
• shape of the neck and opening
• shape and color of the ash glaze
• placement of the artisans stamp
• placement and depth of vertical line on the vessel
I agonized for 30 minutes over which to get. Unfortunately, there wasn’t one piece that has all of what appealed to me. Oh well, hopefully I will grow to like this one more. This one has just a tiny patch of color around the mouth. Very subtle and reminded me of smudged lip-stick.
As I biked home, I thought about how I can very rarely find products that I really like. I felt reassured that I am definitely in the right line of work now. I know just how things should be!
When I got home, I went out in my garden and found some ‘chabana‘ flowers for these photos. These are wild flowers that are not too beautiful, just simple and natural and are used in the tea ceremony.
