In the morning, I grind coffee beans and brew a cup. The smell of the beans. I step out onto the balcony and listen to the birds singing in the clear morning air. A light breeze brushes past my cheek.
I wrap both hands around the mug. Under my fingertips, the surface feels slightly rough. There is a grain to it, and yet the part I am touching feels almost completely smooth and gentle against my skin.
Then there is the weight. It is heavy enough that I clearly feel it there, but there is also a lightness in the way it settles naturally into my hands.
It feels less like the inanimate quality of ceramic and more like the warmth of natural earth. A temperature that recalls stone, cool and warm at once. I felt warmed inside, and it was as though I were being encouraged, as if the day just beginning would be calm and fruitful.
Chosen for Its Look, Understood by Hand
I use this HASAMI PORCELAIN cup for my morning coffee at home and for whatever I am drinking while I work from home.
Before I used it, I hoped it would fit easily into contemporary daily life and work with any kind of food. What drew me in first was its shape: simple, modern, and stylish. Its surface suggested stone, and there was a plainness to it, a look that hinted at natural warmth. I felt at home with it.
What I discovered by actually using it was the warmth of the material and its weight. The warmth I had first taken in through my eyes now reaches me in my hands, carried by that slight roughness and heft. Within a texture that recalls stone, I always sense a warmth I associate with nature.
I also reach for this cup when I want to focus, such as while working remotely. Its simple look calms my mind.
When I want the table to feel simple and calm, I bring out a HASAMI PORCELAIN plate. Pasta, curry, or stew. When a meal goes onto a single plate, the deep, earthy color does not compete with the colors of the food.
Finding HASAMI PORCELAIN in Los Angeles
I first came across it while I was living in Los Angeles, California.
In a lifestyle shop that carried Japanese homewares, I found tableware that looked simple and easy to use. When I picked up a cup and turned it over, “HASAMI PORCELAIN JAPAN” was printed on the base. Hasami ware, from Nagasaki in Japan, was sitting on a shelf in a Los Angeles shop.
Plates, bowls, and cups were stacked vertically. I found something intriguing in a design so clearly made with stacking in mind. When I looked into it, I learned that the brand had been born in the United States. I was surprised that tableware from Hasami had taken shape as a brand that began in America, and I became curious.
Hasami ware is ceramics produced in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. HASAMI PORCELAIN was born in the United States in 2011 as a Hasami ware tableware brand, and went on sale in Japan in 2013. It is one of the group brands of SAIKAI TOKI CO., LTD., based in the town of Hasami, and is directed by Takuhiro Shinomoto, the owner and designer of a lifestyle shop in Los Angeles.
HASAMI PORCELAIN pieces are designed around shared diameter modules. The forms of the Original Collection, the brand’s signature line, are built only from straight lines and perfect circles. Pieces in matching sizes are designed to stack together.
Within the Original Collection, the finish changes how the surface looks and feels where a hand or mouth touches it. Natural is left unglazed, Black is colored with pigment, and Gloss Gray is finished with glaze, and each differs in sheen and texture.
I use this mug for my morning coffee and for drinks while working from home. At the table, I serve pasta, curry, or stew on the plate.
With the mug, it is the roughness and weight I feel in my hands. With the plate, it is the earthy color I see once the food is on it. Even with the same HASAMI PORCELAIN, what I notice depends on how I am using it.
Even with the cup you use every day, where do your fingers actually rest when you hold it? The rim, the body, the handle? And how much weight do your hands take?
On the balcony, I wrap both hands around the mug. My fingertips meet the slightly rough surface, and my palms hold its solid weight. Weight and all, it settles naturally into my hands.