A turquoise gem clings tremulously between shell impressions in the oxidized ash which has solidified in rivulets of ocher and pale green on this finger scored maccha tea bowl by Furutani Kazuya enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Shigaraki Chawan. The bowl is spectacular, the azurite bead a very unusual affect. It is 12.5 x 12 x 9.5 cm (roughly 5 inches diameter, 4 inches tall) and in perfect condition, directly from the artist this year.
Furutani Kazuya was born the son of Anagama legend Furutani Michio in 1976. He graduated the Yamaguchi College of Art in 1997, and spent a year at the ceramics research facility in Kyoto before returning to work under his father in Shigaraki. His Father’s sudden death in 2000 pushed Kazuya to the fore, and left him with big shoes to fill. That he has done! Building three Anagama in the following decade and displaying with the National Ceramics Exhibition and a number of private affairs in some of Japan’s top venues.
