These soba choko style cups were made by Takahiro Manome at his Kasama studio.

Soba choko were originally intended as dipping vessels for noodles, but can equally be used as cups for coffee or whatever you prefer.

These are decorated with Manome’s distinctive chisel work and kohiki (surface applied slip) decorations.

They are 8.5 cm diameter, and 7cm high. They hold around 200ml of liquid.

As each is handmade, there are small differences between them. 

About Takahiro Manone

Originally a student of sculpture at a Tokyo art school, Takahiro Manome embarked on a journey that led him to ceramics, and an atelier on a Kasama mountainside. His work today contains a quiet resolve and a dedication to texture and form. Using a blend of dark local clay, he generates light shades with rich coatings in slip, and prizes the interaction in materials. Fingermarks, brushwork and a contrast in surface decoration he hopes are all aspects that add to the natural and human scenery of his work. Manome’s forms are sometimes thrown, and sometimes made with moulds. They are often finished in the kohiki style of slip and translucent glaze. Somehow Manome too, always manages to fire his gentle personality into his work, and so creates items which are a pleasure to have and to use.