Tableware is a tool. It is best to use something that is not excessive and that fits into your life so well that you don't even notice it.
I don't spend much time in the kitchen, so I wasn't particularly interested in tableware. The turning point came when I started living in two places, in a 130-year-old Japanese house. Friends and staff often came over to visit, and I needed some, so I asked Hakujitsu, an antiques shop close to my studio in Kuramae, to help me find 20 to 30 serving plates, each about 25cm in diameter.
It was then that I discovered the ceramic artist Ryuta Fukumura. His silver and gold-decorated vessels have a refined yet rustic feel, and the way they change over time is wonderful. I don't like decorative objects, but it's very important to me that they are "not excessive as tools."
I use this silver-painted mug every day when I drink coffee in my studio, but I don't even think about it being Fukumura's pottery. Because it's an everyday item that you don't easily replace or give up, I naturally choose something that fits into my life.
Ryuta Fukumura is the second generation potter at Nichigetsugama in Ukiha City, Fukuoka Prefecture. He is a young potter who uses the "ginsai" technique, which involves decorating with silver. This piece is made by first applying a white glaze, then a manganese glaze that creates bubbles, then carefully polishing the surface with a grinder and sandpaper, then applying a silver glaze on top, and finally firing it in a kiln. "My children broke some of them, but I still use them as incense holders."
