Ichiban

Description

Ichiban is a 1/1 creation by local artist Cory Lum and is the first in an exclusive series that he has sculpted. This custom cup is great for enjoying your favorite water, a warm drink, or a cold beverage. This hand thrown double walled ceramic tea cup/Yunomi  would make an excellent cup to enjoy Sake, Green Tea or Shincha.

Size:
W x H 9.0cm x 7.5 cm

Message from the artist:

Aloha World! Welcome! Thank you kindly for visiting and viewing!

Background. Cory Lum was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. Cory works primarily as a photojournalist. Lum fell in love with the 'feel' of clay over 10 years ago and has studied/attended ceramic workshops with Sally Murchison, Takashi Nakazato (Karatsu, japan), Ah Leon (Taiwan), Gu Mei Qun (yixing teapot maker), Lee In Chin (South Korea), Daven Hee (Hawaii clay meister), also a humble student of Omote Senke (chado). Have collaborated with Diane KW aka 'carving extraordinaire'.

Artist Statement. Through the voices of my teacher's past and present, I strive to create ceramic pieces that convey a sense of the softness, malleable nature, and serendipity of the clay. All the matcha chawan are hand-thrown and/or handbuilt. Some are altered and then trimmed by my personal handmade trimming tools and fired to cone 10. Note, that no tools are used to shape the bowls, all hand-shaped with my fingerprints etched into each piece that hopefully will last over 10,000 years as with Jomon era pottery. When throwing ceramic pieces, i believe in a minimalist approach, only hands and a string for cutting are used in creating each matcha chawan. Each piece is one of a kind, unique with its own spirit.

One of my sensei regarding making chawan. "They are not only to gaze upon but must be held and used to appreciate the inherent beauty and art; this cannot be done either with paintings or sculpture. To make a good chawan, one has to understand the value of old masterpieces. I have come to that understanding but still can't seem to make even one worthy chawan!" -- Kato Tokuro