Hitomi Yamasaki: Handmade Japanese Tableware and How to Choose It

Hitomi Yamasaki's current lineup spans thirteen pieces of pottery, priced from $33.74 to $293.34, made from japanese pottery (ceramic) and pottery (ceramic). Several pieces carry hand-painted floral or chrysanthemum motifs, and the shapes run from small plates and dishes to bowls and a mug.

This lobed small plate is a clear example of that painted style: a rim shaped like overlapping petals, hand-painted with a chrysanthemum motif, and a shallow 1.8cm edge that keeps the plate close to flat. Pieces like this work as a place-setting accent rather than a main serving dish, since the lobed edge and painted surface are meant to be seen rather than stacked with food.

Origin and material

Where origin is recorded, the pieces come from Saga, Japan. Material is split between japanese pottery (ceramic) and pottery (ceramic) across the lineup, both fired stoneware rather than porcelain, which is why even the smallest dishes here have some heft rather than the light, thin feel of a porcelain plate.

Shapes across the lineup

The thirteen current pieces break down as Bowl, Small Plate, Small Plate / Mini Dish, Plate, Small Bowl, Mug, and a single piece listed simply as Others. Small Plate and its Small Plate / Mini Dish variant together make up the largest share, which fits a maker whose strength is painted surface decoration: a smaller plate gives the motif more visual weight relative to the piece as a whole.

This small dish, from Saga, Japan, measures 11.2cm across with a 2.2cm rim, and its four-petal motif is carved into the dish's outline rather than painted on top of it, so the pattern reads even before you notice the glaze. That distinguishes it from the lobed plate above, where the petal shape comes from painting rather than the plate's silhouette.

Choosing by dimension

Rim heights across the small plates and dishes run from about 1.8cm up to 2.6cm, all shallow enough for individual servings rather than shared dishes. The rice bowls in this lineup measure between 5.4cm and 5.6cm at the rim, a consistent range that makes it straightforward to mix bowls from different pieces in the same set without a noticeable size mismatch.

This floral plate carries a hand-painted pattern across its 2.5cm rim, sitting in the middle of that shallow-plate range. Next to the carved four-petal dish, it shows the other half of Hitomi Yamasaki's decorative range: painted pattern on a plain silhouette instead of pattern carved into the shape itself.

Where to start

If you are drawn to painted surfaces, start with one of the hand-painted small plates in the 1.8cm to 2.6cm range. If you want a piece defined by its outline rather than its glaze, the carved four-petal shape is the clearer example. The full lineup is in the Hitomi Yamasaki collection, the chrysanthemum-motif pieces are gathered under Chrysanthemum Motif Pottery, and the plates sit under Small Plate and Plate.