Three-tiered Serving Box - Kotobuki

A three-tier porcelain box adorned with auspicious and celebratory patterns. This porcelain box can be used not only for New Year celebrations but also as a lidded container for entertaining guests. The base material is shaped using a method called "pressure casting," where a dedicated plaster mold with convex and concave parts is stacked, and slip, the base material, is poured under pressure. Once the slip is fully hardened inside the mold due to the water absorption properties of the plaster, the formed piece is removed from the mold. This method is particularly suitable for shaping irregularly shaped vessels. Afterward, the piece is dried and trimmed to refine its shape. In porcelain production, the final trimming process is crucial for defining the shape, requiring skilled craftsmanship. The shaped piece is then bisque-fired at 920°C over two days, after which a unique glaze is applied by hand with brushes and fired in a reduction process at 1300°C over three days. Finally, overglaze decoration is applied and fired at 800°C to complete the piece. The design features the traditional "Marumon Kotobuki" pattern, expressed in black and platinum. The patterns symbolize long life and celebration, combining auspicious motifs of "Kotobuki" (longevity and celebration) with pine, bamboo, and plum. These three elements, referred to as the "Three Friends of Winter," represent evergreen and long life (pine), resilience against snow and cold (bamboo), and blooming beautifully even in snow (plum). While maintaining the traditional auspicious patterns, the colors have been modernized to black and platinum. Auspicious patterns have been widely used in Arita ware, as earlier potters wished to enrich the lives of users both materially and spiritually. It is our hope that this sentiment can be conveyed to people around the world through these porcelain pieces.