Seisaku Kusaka/Mari: Handmade Japanese Tableware and How to Choose It

Seisaku Kusaka/Mari pottery is built around a single decorative move: slip trailed over the clay before firing, raised just enough to feel under a fingertip. An oval small plate, a four-sided small bowl, and a standing mug carry that same line in three different forms, all made in Shiga, Japan.

Where the slip trailing shows

The plate above is oval, 9.5cm across at its widest point, with a rim that rises 1.7cm. The slip trailing runs across the surface in raised lines, which means the pattern reads by touch as much as by sight — the plate does not lie perfectly flat under your hand, and that texture is the point. It is pottery (ceramic), made by Seisaku Kusaka/Mari in Shiga, Japan.

Origin and material

All of the pieces in this catalog are pottery (ceramic) fired in Shiga, Japan, by Seisaku Kusaka/Mari. Plates make up most of what the kiln produces, with bowls and cups rounding out the rest, and the slip trailing technique carries across all three forms rather than being reserved for one.

The bowl above repeats the same slip trailing but wraps it around four flat sides instead of a curved one, standing 4cm tall. A four-sided bowl holds its contents differently than a round one — the corners give a spoon somewhere to catch against, which is useful for anything thick enough to resist a curved wall.

Sizes across the catalog

Plate rim heights here run from 1.7cm on the oval small plate up to 3.5cm on a larger sunset-glazed rim plate, with a smaller rim plate at 3cm and a long plate at 2cm. Bowls sit close together by comparison: the four-sided small bowl at 4cm and a rounder small bowl at 9.3cm across. A long plate marked as flexible tops the range at 2.5cm. Checking the rim height against what you plan to serve matters more than the plate's width, since two plates of similar size can hold very different amounts depending on how far the rim rises.

The mug above stands upright rather than flaring outward, cut into facets and finished with the same slip trailing as the plate and bowl. It is a cup meant to be held rather than set down between sips, and the standing shape keeps it steady even when it is fuller than you expect.

Choosing your first piece

Start with the form you use daily: a plate if you eat mostly single servings, a bowl if you cook things that need a wall to hold them in, a mug if you drink more than you plate. The full range is in the Seisaku Kusaka/Mari collection, with plates gathered under Plate, bowls under Bowl Collection, and cups under Cup.