I like waisted forms, not Spicoli wasted, but pots with a
defined narrowing waist. The majority of waisted forms I like are both old and
new though the pots by Lucie Rie, Warren Mackenzie, Colin Pearson and the
chawan of Tsujimura Shiro are all certainly among my favorites. Over the years
I have made a number of waisted forms, mostly based on seeing stones piled one
on top of another throughout Japan. These forms seem to harkens back to
necessity and a defined purpose which interests me as functional potter. The
waist acts as an invitation to the viewer and it is instinctively where the
hands go when picking up the pot. The waist also adds a sense of visual tension
to the form and creates an area the separates as well as connects the areas
above and below. I think it is this tension that really interests me, it is
also why I like pots balanced on small or precarious feet, it gets the heart
racing for the myriad of possibilities.
Illustrated is a temmoku and haiyu glazed teabowl with a
undulating lip, highlighted with amber tones as the glaze ran down the pot. The
waist creates a sense of the form being reigned under some imaginary tension.
The waist runs around the oval bowl and is finished off with a hand carved oval
foot to compliment the form. Waist not, want not.
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