Kiyohide Yokoi: Handmade Japanese Tableware and How to Choose It

Run a thumb down almost any wall made by Kiyohide Yokoi and it will not travel smoothly. The surface is ridged, cut into vertical channels that run from rim to foot, and this one decision explains most of what the work from Gifu, Japan does in the hand. Kiyohide Yokoi pottery is dominated by drinking forms, and a ridged wall is worth more on a cup than on anything else, because a cup is the only piece on the table that gets held while it is full.

A cup measured 11.7cm and 6cm

The indigo cup above carries two measurements, 11.7cm and 6cm, and the relationship between them is the whole design. It is wide for its height. A vessel built on those proportions cannot be gripped by the fingertips the way a tall narrow one can; the hand has to come round the outside, and that is where the ridges start earning their place. Each channel gives the pad of a finger a small edge to sit against, so a full cup can be lifted without squeezing it. The indigo runs darker in the hollows and lighter along the raised lines, which means the ridging is visible from across a table as a set of stripes rather than felt only at close range.

The same cup in Oribe, at 11.5cm

A second soup cup of the same family measures 11.5cm, and it is finished in the manner gathered under Oribe. The measurement difference against the indigo one is too small to matter in use; the finish is not. Where a dark even glaze reads as one field broken by ridges, the Oribe treatment pools and breaks across the same channels, so the surface has weather in it. If you already own something plain, this is the one that changes the table. If the table is already busy, it is the one to leave.

Warped on purpose

The cup above is not round. Its two measurements are 8.5cm and 9.3cm, and a difference of that size between one axis and the other is not a defect in the throwing; it is the point of the form. An out-of-round cup finds an orientation in the hand. Turn it and the grip changes, so you end up holding it the same way every time without deciding to. Add the ridges to that and the cup stops being a cylinder you have to concentrate on. It is also lower and squatter than the soup cups, which puts the rim closer to the mouth and makes it the piece to use for something taken in short sips.

What colour does to a ridged wall

The amber cup above is the same warped and ridged form as the one before it, and the two are worth comparing precisely because the shape is held constant. Amber is a transparent sort of colour. It thins on the raised lines until the clay beneath begins to show and gathers in the channels, so the ridging reads as light and shadow rather than as drawn lines. The darker cup does the opposite and reads as pattern. Neither is better; they belong on different tables. If you are buying two of one form, taking one of each keeps them from becoming a set that repeats itself.

The bowls, at 5.2cm and 5.3cm

Only a few pieces here are not cups. The small bowls stand 5.2cm and 5.3cm, low enough to be lifted with one hand and shallow enough that the contents are visible from a seated position. They carry the same deflected, off-round profile as the warped cups, so they sit alongside them as a matched pair of gestures rather than a matched pair of shapes. A small bowl at this height is a side dish, not a main one, and it is the piece most people underestimate when they buy their first set.

Ceramic, and living with ridges

Everything here is pottery rather than porcelain, which is why the walls carry weight and hold warmth. Ridged surfaces gather nothing that a soft cloth will not remove, but they do reward hand washing over a dishwasher rack, where the channels can trap water against a neighbouring piece. Dry them upside down and the ridges shed water faster than a smooth wall would.

Where these fit

If you drink more than you serve, start with a cup and let the bowls follow. The whole range sits in the Kiyohide Yokoi collection, the drinking forms under cups, and the low round pieces under small bowls.