Inayoshi Osamu 稲吉　オサム

Two of Inayoshi Osamu's chawans in the Teaware On The Edge Exhibit.

I was unfamiliar with Inayoshi's work, so for me it was like the revelation of a magical treasure. He indeed proved to be a magician with clay, and his technique was such simple genius that I was shaking my head at my ignorance for not having seen or thought of it before. The workshop was Inayoshi's first visit to the USA, and the first workshop he had given, and was great fun to be a part of - his expertise was only matched by his sense of humor.

Inayoshi's magic show began with a disappearing act as he covered a turned wooden form with an oh-so-cool keyboard handkerchief.

Next he took a thick slab of clay and formed it around the mold with his hands.

After molding the slab around the form, Inayoshi took a rock - he just got one from around the edge of the parking lot - and began rolling it up the sides of the clay to create form and texture.

Fine-tuning the form.

Around this point Inayoshi said he was thinking about the rim and which side the face of the chawan would be in relation to it.

Removing excess thickness.

Kids, if you want to grow up to be a rock star like me, you gotta wedge your clay! Peace!

A sake cup. Photographing it was like shooting a jewel.

The foot.

A sake bottle.

A few photos of work from Inayoshi's site, where you can see more of the range of work he has done.