No matter how experimental Higashida Shigemasa’s Mino wares can be - organic, sculptural, and free - his ceramics still always honour the qualities of the clay he uses. After a brief career in finance, he opted out of the business world. Instead, drawn to clay, he wound up studying ceramics at the Gifu Prefectural Technical School - an important centre of Mino pottery. 

Higashida also studied for a period with Kato Kozo, at the time, perhaps the most respected potter of that region. During his time in Gifu, he absorbed the rugged and natural aesthetic of Shino, Oribe, Ki-seto and Setoguro pottery. Higashida established his own studio outside Tokyo where he continues to create work that is directly connected to Mino's post-war revival, while at the same time exploring the sculptural possibilities of Gifu’s highly plastic mogusa clay bodies. 

This sake cup is covered with such a thick coating of shino, it’s hard to see if it was hand-molded or thrown. You can see traces of faceting in the sides, its thick walls giving the cup serious heft in the hand. The shino glaze crawls  to reveal a dark iron slip underneath. 

And the colour variations Higashida achieves is an example of shino's beautiful range: as you turn the cup cream, pink, mauve, and iridescent brown colour each side. While rough and rugged, there is still somehow a simple elegance to Higashida’s cup - like something plucked from nature that nevertheless perfectly serves its function. 

Comes with the signed, stamped, and titled wood box. Note: the box’s fabric ties have been replaced.