Arita Ware, Japan's First Porcelain
Arita ware pioneered Japan's porcelain tradition in the early 1600s. This rounded matcha bowl carries a glossy mirror glaze across white porcelain, its abstract wash of blush and periwinkle reading as undecorated simplicity with a modern, refined ease.
Restored Across a Pastel Glaze
A glaze this soft leaves little room for error. Rio Hashimoto completed graduate studies in the urushi department of Kyoto City University of Arts (est. 1880), mastering the full lacquer discipline from woodworking through gold application. Grounded in that training and a practice spanning traditional lacquer and conceptual art, the artist refined this bowl over four months with natural urushi and 24K gold, finished through roiro, the highest level of urushi polishing — a restraint born of understanding the craft in full.
Gold Within an Abstract Field
The pastel wash on this bowl behaves like paint rather than pattern, and the gold seams settle into it as a second composition. Shaped by an artist whose practice spans lacquer and conceptual art, the restoration reads not as a correction but as a line within the abstraction.
