SCEGLI LA TUA TAZZA

"WHAT CUP YOU ARE"

Find your cup!

A real teacup can convey emotions, when you hold it in your hands all the senses are involved and stimulated.

Through his perception you undertake a path in harmony with the surrounding that brings us closer to the essential nature.

In 1997 the MIC (International Museum of Ceramics) of Faenza organized, in the world premiere, a unique exhibition of its kind entitled "RAKU: A dynasty of Japanese potters - A dinasty of Japanese ceramists", with the collaboration of the Japan Foundation and the availability of the Kyoto Raku Museum.

106 unique historical pieces made in over 4 centuries (mainly tea cups and in any case objects used during this ceremony), a formidable concentrate of the most intimate Japanese culture (philosophy, art and technique).

I envy those who could visit this exhibition and learn about the 15th RAKU Kichizaemon, the last RAKU of a dynasty so considered in Japan to be considered a living national heritage.

Years later, in leafing through the catalog made on that occasion, I felt the strong desire to explore that expressive dimension between the philosophical and the religious that produced such marvels.

With great humility, I try to interpret what I have received, which I have been taught and transmitted by producing cups that can only be a tribute to the works of those masters.

The "Raku" ceramics that we see and commonly meet would be better defined with the term "Western Raku", they are of great visual impact, often rich in metallic reflections but made with methods that make them unstable, toxic, sensitive to atmospheric agents and little resistant over time.

 Today we use the adjective of ceramics Raku identifying a particular manufacturing process in the production of ceramic objects, while RAKU is a dynasty of potters who originated in Japan at the end of 1500 and now come to the 15th exponent (defined fifteenth RAKU) and the procedure operational that we commonly know as Raku is actually a Western technique that only partially mimics this ancient art.

Following the traces left by the Japanese masters, I refined the technique and directed the working process towards a stable, non-toxic, safe foodstuff product.

Marco Borghi