Leopard Fur Swirl Yunomi

Wheel-thrown iron speckled stoneware teacup with oil-spot glaze under white cover, oxidation fired to 1210 degrees C with exceptionally long soaking and cooling.

Height: 85mm

Diameter: 75mm

Capacity: 200ml

Price per teacup, not a set. This yunomi is dishwasher and food safe, though handwashing is strongly recommended. Please handle your pots with care, as the sharper edges may chip if struck forcefully. Keep in mind that this isn’t a mass-produced factory pot; it’s a unique handmade piece. The inner dark glaze displays tiny pores, much like your skin, but they are vitrified and sealed, and although it may pick up water stains, they wash away. This is the result of the same process that creates the smooth and mesmerizing external fur-like glaze pattern, when oxygen leaves the iron-rich glaze through the lighter cover. To create this effect the kiln cannot reach temperatures as high as for most of my pieces, but it needs much longer and complex firings.

Each piece in this series varies slightly in size and pattern, much like cubs from the same family. Instead of trying to make all cups identical, I purposely modify the orientation and speed of my hands when giving them their unique final shape. Consequently, even if they start the same, they become different afterward. This may sometimes alter their height and width by a few millimeters too. I do this to give them personality, much like how all of us are continuously shaped by our environment and influence it back as well.