GENERAL INTRODUCTION
For centuries tea practitioners, artisans and professional and amateur potters have used and evolved the Raku firing process. All have subtly adapted the basic features and used it for their own purposes and ideas.
Livin’ Beauty Ceramics adapted the same basic features. In constant search of new designs and glaze techniques it is our challenge to keep evolving this unprecedented methodology and technique.
Characteristic of Livin’ Beauty Ceramics is the timeless interpretation of design and the application of unique glaze techniques. This includes working with precious metals, such as copper and silver, and sophisticated crackle techniques.
Livin’ Beauty Ceramics strives to positively contribute to a pleasant and inspiring living environment. Please have a look at our catalogue and make yourself at home in the world of Livin’ Beauty Ceramics.
THE ORIGIN OF RAKU
It is said that the origin of Raku ware lay in the making of a single bowl for the tea ceremony.
To understand Raku, it is necessary to go back in time and place. Back to Japan, the region of Kyoto in the Momoyama period (1573-1615).
Raku ware was started by potter Chôjirô around 1580. During this time, colourful pottery based on the Chinese three-colour Sancai glazing came into production. Chôjirô was one of the potters practicing such techniques. Raku ware, being produced by the same type of firing and glazing as the Chinese Sancai ware, evolved into a particular glazing method. This glazing method is characterized by the use of monochrome black and red glazes. Key to the technique is that the most-often hand shaped tea bowls were removed from the hot kiln and allowed to cool in the open air.
When Sen Rikyû – tea master inside the Jarakudai Palace, built by Toyotomo Hideyoshi, the leading warrior statesman of that time – saw Chôjirô’s sculptures in Kyoto, he commissioned him to make tea bowls for his wabi-styled tea ceremony.
Hideyoshi was so pleased with the bowls he used the term Raku, which is usually translated as “enjoyment” or “ease”. It is believed that Hideyoshi presented Chôjirô’s son Jokei with a seal bearing the Chinese character for Raku. Raku then became the name of the family that produces these wares.
Since then, both the Raku technique and tradition have been passed down through the family, without any modifications, to the present 15th generation.
AMERICAN RAKU
The American potter Paul Soldner introduced the use of a reduction chamber at the end of the firing process in the 1960’s.
Characteristic of the firing process is that pieces are removed from the hot kiln. By using a reduction chamber, pieces removed from the hot kiln are placed in a container filled with masses of combustible material. By closing the container a reduction atmosphere is created. After the combustible material catches fire, the oxygen level decreases, which results in extraordinary glaze effects. Crackled and reduction-oxidation glazes are typical of the so-called American Raku technique.
CUSTOM MADE
Formless clay is being given form. A creative process with endless possibilities. Are we going to create beyond the boundaries? Explore areas where no one has been before?
Livin’ Beauty Ceramics offers the opportunity to customize products. We can make your design, adapt our designs to fit your wishes or create something new together. The possibilities are as broad as your imagination.
Please do not hesitate to contact us so that we may explore the opportunities together.