A wall-mounted kakehana by Kako Katsumi, dating from 2025, enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Kyokuza. Formed as a continuous ring, the vessel projects gently from the wall, its circular body subtly irregular, with a softly faceted outer edge that catches light in shifting intervals. The surface is finely incised with closely spaced vertical lines, creating a rhythmic texture that both animates the form and reinforces its sense of rotation. The clay is left unglazed, revealing a warm, iron-rich red that varies in tone through firing, with small inclusions and granular variations enlivening the surface. This restrained material palette allows the emphasis to fall on form and touch—the steady cadence of the incised lines, the slight undulations of the ring, and the quiet tension between interior void and outer mass. A small, discreet aperture interrupts the circumference, serving as the functional opening for a single stem. When mounted, the vessel frames the wall behind it, transforming negative space into an active element of the composition. A solitary flower or branch emerges from the upper edge, appearing almost suspended within the circular field, its organic asymmetry set against the measured continuity of the ring. Measuring 35 cm in diameter and 6.3 cm in depth, Kyokuza offers a refined synthesis of object and setting, both vessel and frame, inviting a minimal, attentive approach to floral arrangement while quietly reshaping the surrounding space.
Kako Katsumi was born in Kyoto in 1965, and graduated the ceramics department of Saga Art College in 1986. He was selected for the Japan Fine Arts Exhibition, the Asahi Ceramic Art Exhibition and the Kyoten held at the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art in 1988, followed in 1989 by the National Ceramic Art Exhibition and Mino International Ceramics Exhibition. He has since exhibited and or been selected/ awarded many times at these prestigious events. He established his kiln in Nishiwaki City in 1991. In 1994 he worked in Melbourne. Australia, and would create a second kiln in 2001. In 2004 he would be awarded the Prize of Excellence at the Tanabe Museum of Art Modern Tea Forms exhibition. In 2005 he established his current kiln in Sasayama, Hyogo prefecture. In 2009 his work was featured at the Kikuchi Biennale Exhibition and the following year was awarded at the 4th Contemporary Tea Bowls Exhibition, and in 2011 was selected for the influential Paramita Ceramic Exhibition. 2013 saw him in New York, and 2014 at the Museum of Ceramic Art in Hyogo (Kobe). Held in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art among others.
