Hidasuki tea bowl

This is a new *hidasuki* (fire-cord) tea bowl by Takashi Baba, an artist born in Imbe who has loved Bizen ware since childhood and finds joy in crafting pieces and firing kilns. The highly original polyhedral form involves not just the exterior surface, but a deformation of the body itself, and one cannot help but be amazed by the sense and technique required to achieve this by hand. Each piece is constructed with varying angles, giving the whole a mysterious presence that feels simultaneously like a pouch and a stone. The firing process is as meticulously considered as the shape; to accentuate the beautiful ridges, the piece was fired in a strong reduction atmosphere avoiding *goma* (ash glaze), resulting in a beautiful *hidasuki* pattern that leaves the clay surface fully exposed. Please enjoy using it freely—whether for tea, as a container for delicacies, or as a vessel for chilled sake.

"Takashi Baba Special Feature" Signed storage box provided at a later date (please allow some time for delivery)
Diameter 7.2cm × 7.0cm × Height 4.7cm Takashi Baba was born in 1983 as the eldest son of Bizen ware artist Shosuke Baba. Considering a career as a ceramic artist from a young age, he chose to study sculpture in university to broaden his artistic perspective. After graduating from the Tokyo University of the Arts with a degree in sculpture in 2006, he honed his skills at the Kyoto Municipal Institute of Industrial Technology and Culture. He became independent in 2007 and held his first solo exhibition. He is currently active primarily through solo exhibitions at department stores.