Our heroine dressed in purple decorates the torn exterior of this silver lined sake cup by rising star Isezaki Yotaro enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled HAL Ginsai Mentori Guinomi. It is 5.5 cm (2 inches) diameter, 7 cm (just less than 3 inches) tall and is in perfect condition, directly from the artist this Spring.
Isezaki Yotaro was born in Bizen, son of a traditional potter known for tea ware, in 1995. He graduated Seika University in Kyoto before enrolling at the the Tajimi Design Institute. He makes use of ancient inherited techniques, modern graphics, and a century of technological innovation in transfer ware. The works are hand-built, slabbed and trimmed then bisk fired. He then creates a print transfer which is applied to the low-fired surface, and further burnishes it before glazing and re-firing. As a rising artist, he actively participates in exhibitions across Japan. Despite his young age, his work has been highly acclaimed, earning him the Newcomer’s Award at the Japan Traditional Craft Exhibition, Chugoku Branch in 2021. In 2023, he was recognized at the Contemporary Ceramics Hagi Grand Prize Exhibition VI, and in 2024, his work was selected for both the Contemporary Tea Ceramics Exhibition and the Bizen Biennale. In addition, this year he was selected for a solo exhibition at the preeminent Kuroda Toen in the swank Ginza district of Tokyo.
