FIRE AND ASH

A fellow collector from Europe sent me this picture of a classically simple but well fired Iga set of tokkuri and guinomi which I was rather pleased to see though handling them would be even better. This set was made by Fukushima Kazuhiro who's works I have been watching for several years now and on my first encounter I discovered that he had spent time learning under Koie Ryoji  and then worked for a short while in California. Admittedly I was originally surprised regarding the Koie connection as I did not see any of the influence that usually comes out in the clay, glazing and firing from such a strong and charismatic teacher but as you look long enough there are subtleties, like rhythm and posture not to mention his use of Oribe glaze as well. 

As for this set, as I mentioned they are both simple in design, straight forward throwing with age old forms perfect for the task at hand and Fukushima has allowed the firing process and choice of woods decorate his pieces where gem-like bidoro betrays the positioning of the pieces in the kiln creating a luminescent landscape of the interaction between fire and ash. As a final observation it is rather splendid to see the movement of the surfaces even in this semi-formal and static image, one can only image how animated the surfaces are in person.