RUSTY ROLL

I have to admit, in my initial encounter with this chawan all I could think was what a simple, even quiet but perfect chawan. Looking at the distilled form, the thoughtful, concidered lip and perfect lift from a crisp, simple foot, what more could you ask for from a bowl? Well as luck would have it, besides the well conceived bones of the chawan, the surface is just alive with glimmering iron crystals that make up strand or tendril of movement that add to the vertical quality of the piece and creates quite the active and enticing appearance.       

This chawan was made by Kimura Morinobu who along with his two sibling has dedicated a lifetime to the pursuit of exploring iron in glazes like temmoku and yuteki-temmoku, all influenced by their Chinese archetypes. Along with Morinobu's continued experimentation with "iron in the fire", he has burnt to a cinder numerous types of vegitation to create a wide and exotic at times, array of ash glazes. This particular temmoku glaze has a beautiful flare with the intermingling of dark temmoku and a rusty trail all culminating in a vivid, undulating glaze roll that is a beauty to look at and to feel. The glaze roll culminates near the foot, exposing the clay and just feels good, cupped in the hands. Even though this isn't one of Morinobu's ash glazed wonders, it would be rather hard to consider this anything other than another homerun (at least to my personal taste).