The beautiful yunomi cup is finely handcrafted by artist Anette Lindenberg using kurinuki, the traditional Japanese technique of carving from a single block of clay. The cup is made with mid-grey clay and glazed in Lindenberg’s pale blue glaze, applied to show variation in the colour tone of the glaze and capturing the fluidity of glaze before firing. The pale glaze gathers following the edges of the facets, capturing a sense of quiet movement and temporal in-betweenness. The subtle crackles of the glaze enhance the whimsical playfulness accompanying the tonal modulations. More evenly applied glaze on the smooth interior of the bowl shows a faint hint of a warm lilac hue, giving it an almost luminescent quality, while white specks visible through the thinly applied tinted glaze hint at the sandy texture of the body protruding along the edges of the kurinuki cuts. The complex texture juxtaposes with the simple, finely sculpted asymmetrical form of the cup — the rounded belly comfortably curves into the palm.
The piece elegantly treads a balance between delicate softness and jagged roughness, reflecting the artist’s interest in natural geomorphic forms and influence from the Japanese aesthetic theory of wabi-sabi – an appreciation for beauty in imperfection. This combination results in a mesmerising rawness and warmth that is simultaneously intimate and subliminal. The unglazed bottom exhibits the original rough clay body, finished with the neat maker’s mark.