IKOMI Round Plate free form 2

Ceramics

Craft Company: Fukuju Touen

ORIGIN: Arita, Saga Prefecture
SIZE: φ260×H15 mm
MATERIAL: Porcelain stone

Towards a novel form of beauty in handcrafting

At first sight, the bold design of this plate gives a shock, as if the earth itself had split open. The plate, “IKOMI,” was created by adding a hand-crafted element from an Arita artisanal sometsuke painting technique to the casting technique known as “鋳込 – ikomi,” in which slip is poured into a mold. This is a masterpiece that promises to shape a novel and enjoyable dining experience.

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VOL.26

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INSIGHT

Yumiko Tanaka / Yasuko Kamochi

KOGEI & Me VOL.23

Yasuko Kamochi and Yumiko Tanaka are in charge of “etsuke” (decorative painting) at Fukujugama in Arita, Saga Prefecture. Even in Arita, which is the famed historical area of porcelain, there are few artisans specializing in etsuke at the present time. Yasuko joined Fukujugama because her sister worked there too. At that time, Arita ware was in high demand. Etsuke is a finely divided work where ea...

RESOURCE

Sometsuke (Blue and white porcelain)
- Technique
Decorating on biscuit under transparent glaze with a blue pigment. This pigment is known as zaffer or “gosu” in Japanese. It was first used in China in the 14th century and then spread around the world. In Japan, it was first introduced in Arita at the beginning of 17th century. The decoration methods can be broadly divided into two ways with each method using different brushes. One is drawing just the outline and the other is painting inside the outline which is called “dami” in Japanese. There are also other techniques such as “fukizumi” which creates pattern by spraying gosu on the surface resulting in a charming contrast of blue and white.
Arita ware
- Generic term
Generic name of porcelain made mainly in Arita, Saga Prefecture. Arita is the first porcelain producing area in Japan. It is also called “Imari ware” as it was shipped from Imari port during the early days.
Ikomi (Casting)
- Technique
A method of forming pottery using plaster molds instead of the potter’s wheel. The fluid slip solidifies as the plaster mold absorbs the moisture from the clay. This method is suitable for mass-production. It can be divided into two general methods: pressure casting and slip casting.

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