The potato is native to the Americas; the Incas are believed to have been the first to cultivate wild tubers along the Andes Mountain range. The Incas boiled, roasted, and fermented potatoes; they also dehydrated them to extend storage. In the mid-16th century, gold-seeking Spanish Conquistadors brought the spud to Europe, and from there it…

You can tell that September was the busiest time at work when all I could manage to write about was putting tomatoes on handmade ceramic plates and sharing daily Instagram Stories about preparing matcha (抹茶, Japanese powdered green tea) in a proper teabowl using a bamboo whisk. Truth is, these things were a palliative to a hectic period. Running…

‘Are you a collector or a maker?’ a chatty chap asked me during a ceramics exhibition months ago. He then went on to tell me how proud he was of his Japanese collection. ‘I’m a user’ I uttered without too much thought, and my answer has been lingering in the back of my mind ever…

How are the three objects pictured above — a broom, a bright pink bush and a package of greenish-black seeds — related to each other? The answer: all are TONBURI also known as hōki-gusa (literally “broom plant”). The scientific name is Kochia scoparia / Bassia scoparia. Considered an unwelcome weed in many parts of the world, in Japan the plant…

My interest in Korean ceramics had been growing over the years, at first  as a way to better understand its Japanese counterpart, and later based on its own merit. While Japanese emperors, aristocrats and rulers like Toyotomi Hideshoshi had a penchant for karamono, elegant and luxurious tea wares and other objects originating in China, it…

When we think about traditional craft objects, the first image that comes to mind is that of old things, vintage looks, nostalgia and remote origin stories. However, traditions are living entities. They have to be born before they get a chance to establish themselves, they grow and evolve, and sometimes they die too. The evolution…

The yunomi is the workhorse of Japanese teaware. It’s the cup where you’ll be offered tea at a shop, a restaurant, an office or when visiting someone’s home. You’ll find it in daily use by people of all classes and backgrounds. Broadly speaking, Japanese tea cups and bowls can be classified as chawan, yunomi and…

Farmers around the world deploy “scarecrows” to guard their crops from undesirable flying, crawling, and burrowing creatures. Japan’s kakashi scarecrows that stand guard over rice fields tend to be more whimsical than frightening figures. Above, rice fields in Kanagawa Prefecture, west of Yokohama, with their guardian kakashi taking a brief lunch break, enjoying onigiri rice balls. For nearly a decade I commuted regularly…

On April 14th 2023 I hosted an online session called “Slow prosperity: Empathy and Business” with 6th generation Japanese master craftsman Takahiro Yagi of Kaikado. Kaikado has been making tea caddies – 茶筒, chazutsu – since 1875. The wide-ranging conversation followed some of the topics covered in Taka’s book, “共感と商い” (“Empathy and Business”), published in March 2023, and…

Do tomatoes taste better when eaten from a nice Japanese ceramic plate? Objectively, no. But the experience of serving and eating the tomatoes does improve. That is because human experience is not limited just to the physical characteristics of the food but how we interact with it, from the sensorial stimulation to the meaning we…