BABA TAKASHI Kuro-Bizen Jug

Description

The Kuro-Bizen jug is part of the Kuro-Bizen collection. The name translates as “black Bizen”. As always, Baba Takashi combines tradition with his own innovations. Bizen is one of Japan’s most famous and oldest ceramic regions, known for its unglazed pottery. Its focus lies on the clay and its “flavour”.
With his Kuro-Bizen ceramics, Baba-san demonstrates his mastery of this tradition while playfully developing it in a new direction.

This jug is coated on the outside in the Imbe style with a fine layer of dark slip. A natural matte ash glaze also runs across the exterior walls, creating a contrast with the glossy, deep black engobe.
Inside, the surface is highly complex: in places the unglazed clay is still visible in a fine dark violet tone. This is interwoven with the glossy black engobe and natural ash glaze, which has pooled together at the base.
The jug was fired for 10 days at 1300°C in a noborigama wood kiln.

Surprisingly, this jug features two spouts. Baba Takashi’s sculptural cuts and incisions also give this piece its distinctive character. At the base, the spiral-shaped foot can again be seen, along with the ridge in the trimmed area. The impressions left by the shells used as supports during firing are also visible.

In Japan, jugs like this are used for sake. However, they can also be used for milk or as an original vase.

BABA TAKASHI

Baba Takashi, the young ceramic sculptor from Bizen, is not reinventing Bizen pottery but continuing its evolution. Coming from a family of potters, Baba-san studied sculpture, an influence that is strongly reflected in his ceramics.
Through new forms that nonetheless remain functional, he aims to introduce a fresh impulse. He has also studied glazes in depth to bring greater intensity to the otherwise restrained natural tones of Bizen ware.
Highly experimental by nature, Baba-san seeks to unite two styles — Shino and Bizen. His creations reflect determination and strength, while at the same time conveying grace and harmony.