Hello everyone, how are you doing?
Following yesterday, I would like to introduce some wonderful photos we received from a customer today.
It appears that last night there was a "joint celebration" between the works of Kei Fujiwara and his son, Yu.
These two artists were instrumental in bringing Bizen ware to wider public acclaim, following the path paved by Toyo Kaneshige, who established the foundation of modern Bizen ware.
The customer paired a choko sake cup with a wabi-sabi sesame glaze effect, created by Kei in the early stages of his career around the 1945–1955 period, with a tokkuri sake bottle created by Yu after he was designated as a Living National Treasure.
Seeing these two pieces, created about 50 years apart—with the tokkuri produced after 1996—brought together in a shared moment by our customer, I cannot help but feel a sense of wonder at this miraculous coincidence.
Comparing the flavor of Kei’s work from a time when he sought the old Bizen style and found solace in the clay, with the kiln-transformed beauty of Yu’s work, into which he poured his passion as time progressed, offers a romantic glimpse into the grand evolution of Bizen ware.