Rice Bowl — Ooze Melt

Rice Bowl — Ooze Melt

Because it is something used at the table every day, this rice bowl was made with as much thought for how it feels in the hand as for how it looks.

Over a base of soft ivory glaze, the outside is cut line by line with the facets called shinogi.

Metals that come out black-brown and blue are then brushed over that, and in the firing the colours bleed, melt together and run.

Rather than working it entirely to plan, some of what the kiln happens to make is left in.
So the way it runs, and the way the colours overlap, differs a little from piece to piece.

A soft ivory ground, with the quieter character of black-brown and blue.
I think of it as one of the bowls that best shows what I hold to in my work: a piece where gentleness and restraint are in balance.

The form, too, was worked out for daily use.

The shinogi on the outside is decoration and grip at once, and beside the foot there is a small hollow where the thumb settles naturally.

Serving the rice. Picking it up. Bringing it to your lips.

It is finished so that ease of use is felt inside those unremarkable movements.

The name Ooze Melt comes from two words:
Ooze — to seep out
Melt — to dissolve into

As it is used, the bowl settles little by little into a person's life and table, until at some point it is simply there, as a matter of course.

I would be glad if it became that kind of piece.