Stefan Diez Bowl

Part of an initiative to celebrate the 400-year anniversary of the famous Japanese pottery town Arita, with its network of over 200 mutually-supporting manufactories and industrial enterprises, the 25-piece service SD/2016 looks at the expertise found in traditional craftsmanship as an original source of inspiration and applies it to the industrial process. After many rounds of plaster prototyping at 1:1 scale in the Munich studio, the models were sent to Japan, where their minimalist design was adapted to the industrial process by Kawazoe Seizan’s experienced team of modelers. Highlights of this unique combination of craft and industry include the teapot, whose ingenious opening mechanism makes do without an extra handle on the lid, preventing it from falling off when liquid is being poured, the tea strainer with its distinct perforation, which is created manually in a small manufactory, and the ginger and radish grater, which is furnished with a special artisanal friction surface, developed (and patented) by the manufacturer Kubota Minoru.  The set’s most distinctive features, however, are the seamlessly merging, wafer-thin porcelain surfaces and the lack of foot-rings.

Designed by Stefan Diez.

The white porcelain used by Diez highlights the graceful curves and delicate edges of this simple yet beautiful bowl.