Takashi Tomii, blue sake cup

Made in  Japan
Materiality Magnolia wood finished in urushi lacquer
Dimensions 7.5 x 4.5cm

A unique blue lacquer sake cup made from Magnolia wood by Tomii Takashi

More about the artist:

Takashi Tomii’s interest in woodworking was kindled during his one year stay in Vernonia, Oregon, a region known for its forestry industry. After returning to Japan in 1995, Takashi started to carve kitchen tools such as butter knives, spatulas, and spoons out of twigs he gathered in the nearby hills. Although he dedicated himself to surface science experiments throughout his student years, he was drawn to cooking and collecting kitchen-ware, ceramics, and wooden tools and furniture. Gradually he started to dream of living by making wooden tableware, and finally in 2002 when he was 25, he left graduate school to enter the “Shinrin Takumi Juku” where he learned solid wood furniture making for two years. He then worked for Oak Village in Gifu for nearly four years.

In 2008, Takashi moved to a bucolic valley near Shigaraki, Shiga and started creating wooden tableware for daily use in his old school house workshop in Minamiyamashiro, Kyoto. After seven years, he and his family moved north to Nagaoka, Niigata in 2015. All of his pieces are hand tooled or turned on a lathe into very simple and beautiful shapes. Takashi lives with his wife, Miyuki, who helps with his work, and two daughters and a son. They are enjoying their everyday lives surrounded by rich nature.