These bowls are completed in a textural glaze that forms part of Japanese ceramicist Ken Shōji’s exploration of the colour black. Rich, and hard to achieve, the finish completely covers the surface of the work. Within this absence of colour Shōji finds shades.

The bowls are low and flat, with a Japanese style kodai (foot) at their base. Food or objects placed within could find their own tint from the black of the surface.

Size: 17.5cm in diameter, and around 5.3cm high.

About Ken Shōji                                                                                   

From his home county of Miyagi in northern Japan, Ken Shōji’s route to pottery ran through the studio of Kasama master potter Motohiko Ito. Training here for five years, Shōji received the varied education of a Japanese potter. One aspect was wood firing, and the skill and connection to nature needed to retain control of a kiln in these circumstances is part of the fascination Shōji finds in pottery. Today from his studio on a hilly outcrop in Kasama, he founds his work on his materials, and in the regular battle to shape the sometimes difficult local clay. Variations in colour are another key element of his work, and the challenge of delivering contrast in black is a theme that he returns to. He achieves this with the ‘uwae’ overpainting technique, among his other explorations in colour and form.