This chawan is hand-formed, with the kurinuki technique. with blue glaze inspired by the works of Yun Hyong-keun.
Part of the Dansaekhwa (monochromatic painting) movement, the South Korean artist Yun used only ultramarine and umber. Yuns way of working is impossible to reproduce in ceramics, and I'm still experimenting with the glazes and the "patterns".
I studied a lot of Yun paintings and tried to move the texture of the canvas, the different dept of blues, the umber and the blurred edges to ceramics. These moon jars are inspired by Yuns Burnt Umber Ultramarine series.
Chawan means tea bowl and that is exactly what it is. The chawan is used in tea ceremonies all over East Asia. There are many types of chawan, it is really nice to dive into the chawan wikipedia page if you want to lean more. The chawan is perfect to drink matcha out of, the wide opening gives the chasen (matcha whisk) the room to move.
Kurinuki means ‘to hollow’ in Japanese. It is a traditional technique where you carveaway the clayfrom a solid block and shape the object. I use kurinuki to make chawans, cups and boxes. The process is slow and creates one of a kind pieces.
The glaze is food safe and you can put the cup in the dish washer (but it is better to wash by hand, that only takes 30 seconds).
dimensions: height 9,5 cm x width 11 cm weight approx: 490 grams date of work: 2025 medium: hand-formed stoneware light and dark blue glaze on light yellow clay firing: raw fired, electric
