Takuya Ohara Pottery: Choosing a Slip Mug

Takuya Ohara pottery makes a narrow decision out of a wide one. The form of the mug stays where it is; only the color moves. So once you know you want one, the question is not what to buy but which surface you want to see first thing in the morning.

What painted slip does to a surface

Slip is clay thinned down and laid over the body before the glaze goes on. Painted rather than dipped, it keeps a record of how it was applied: a little more of it where the brush was full, a little less where it ran dry. That is why the yellow mug above does not read as one flat tone. Turn it toward a window and the color shifts in bands across the wall, all of them yellow, none of them quite the same yellow.

This matters more than it sounds. A printed surface looks identical from every angle, so after a week you stop seeing it. A brushed one gives you something slightly different depending on where you set it down, which is the difference between an object you use and an object you notice.

What 6.7cm gives you in the hand

The mug stands 6.7cm. Short, in other words, and the shortness is doing real work. A low mug keeps its weight near the table, so it does not rock when you put it down without looking. It clears the spout of a home coffee maker without being tilted underneath. And it holds the amount you drink while the drink is still hot, rather than the amount that goes cold in front of you at a desk.

Height is also what your fingers read first. At this height the rim arrives before your grip has fully closed, so the mug is taken from above with the fingertips rather than wrapped in a fist. That is a lighter way to hold something warm.

The gray one asks for less attention

The gray mug is built to the same 6.7cm and carries the same painted slip, but it behaves differently once there is food on the table. Yellow puts itself forward. Gray steps back and lets whatever is on the plate beside it lead, which is why it survives a table that is already busy with pattern.

There is a practical side to this too. Gray takes the shadow of the brushwork without competing with it, so the marks that make the surface interesting stay legible even in a dim kitchen. On a bright color those same marks can disappear at breakfast and only return in afternoon light.

Blue, at 6.5cm

The blue mug comes in at 6.5cm. The gap from the other two is small enough that you feel it rather than measure it, and what you feel is the rim arriving a fraction sooner at the lip.

What actually separates this one is the ground. Blue slip goes darker where it pools and pale where the brush thinned out, so the marks read as shadow instead of as color. The result is a mug that shows its making plainly while staying quiet on a shelf.

What is underneath the slip

All of it is pottery rather than porcelain, made in Shiga. A ceramic body behaves differently in the hand from a porcelain one. It warms with whatever you pour into it and holds that warmth for a while, so the mug tells you the drink is still hot before you taste it. It also survives a knock against the edge of a sink better than a thin white body would.

The body matters for the decoration as well. Slip sinks slightly into a ceramic surface instead of sitting on top of it, which is why the painted edges look soft rather than cut. On a harder body the same brushwork would look applied; here it looks grown into the wall.

If you would rather eat from it than drink

There is also a footed bowl that stands 5.5cm at the wall. That is a serving depth rather than a rice depth: deep enough to keep a dressed salad or a portion of stew from spreading out, shallow enough that a spoon reaches the bottom without you tipping the whole thing toward yourself. A foot lifts it clear of the table, so it can go straight from the counter to a setting without a mat under it.

Paired with a mug, that bowl covers most of what a single person eats in a day. It is a more useful second purchase than a second mug in another color.

Where to start

If the mug is going to sit out on a counter, take the yellow mug, which earns its place by being looked at. For one that disappears into a table you already have, take the gray mug. The blue mug is the choice if you want the brushwork to show without the color announcing it. The Takuya Ohara collection puts them side by side.