Handmade Japanese Tea Set with Chawa by Tiberio Gracco

Potter: Tiberio Gracco (Italy)

Pot Interior Dimensions: 3″L x 3″W x 1 3/4″D
Chawa Dimensions: 5″L x 5″W x 2 1/4″D

Tiberio Gracco was born in 1978 in Torre del Greco, a small town at the foot of Vesuvius. He grows up and still lives in Pompeii, the ancient Roman city destroyed by the volcano. He has been making bonsai pots for about 20 years. He has created a Japanese Garden, where he grows his own bonsai, and a studio / laboratory for the creation of stoneware pots for bonsai. He himself collects the clays and mixes them with others from all over Europe, thus obtaining various types of colors and patinas. He uses the technique of Te-bineri (free hand), Tatara (clay plates) and that of the wheel to make his vases. He mainly produces unglazed vases but there is no shortage of enameled vases for kusamono and shitakusa in his productions. In this case, the glazes are obtained from ash which, properly processed and with the addition of oxides, gives the glazes the various shades of color.