This series is the culmination of in-depth research on Amakusa stone, the raw material used to make porcelain.

Different types of natural materials are used in ceramics,
and TRACE was inspired by exploring the “traces” that each material leaves behind.

This series uses two different materials: low-grade shimaishi pottery stone, which is rarely used for tableware, and iron sludge, a byproduct of the ceramics production process that is normally discarded as industrial waste.

Shimaishi stone is rich in iron and, as such, was not historically used in the Hizen area of Saga and Nagasaki prefectures due to their preference for high-grade tokujo stone, a pure white stone with no iron content that was easier to handle.*

(*Pure white ceramics have long been preferred in Arita and Mikawachi ware, which have been used for ceremonial and religious offerings since ancient times. Ceramic stones are classified by grade, and it is said that only 1–2% of the highest tokujo grade can be found in raw materials today.)

While making TRACE, we did just that—traced the history of banded shimaishi stone and decided to use the material for TRACE BLACK and WHITE. We were attracted by its power and the flow of time that it evokes, which reminded us of the ancient past.

BLACK: The inside of these black bowls is covered with a glossy black tenmoku “oil-drop” glaze, while the outside is fired without glaze to preserve the rough texture of the banded shimaishi stone, which gives it a rustic warmth.

WHITE: The white bowls upcycle iron sludge that would usually be discarded as industrial waste and mix it into the glaze. This iron sludge is the product of an iron removal process that removes the material from iron-rich stones using hydrochloric acid to obtain whiter stones.

For this series, we commissioned the Koushungama kiln in the town of Hasami, where a unique process is applied to the iron sludge to remove any hydrochloric acid before using it as a ceramic material.