raku
Raku (楽 raku-yaki) means enjoy the day, live in harmony with the things and people. Raku originated from the name of the tea ceremony master Rikyu lived in Japan in the sixteenth century. The Japanese raku pottery is glazed and cooked at low temperature (800 ° -900 °). The raku pottery is hand-modeled and why objects have a simple and irregular form. The pieces are extracted from the second firing kiln incandescent and immediately covered by a layer of organic material (sawdust, leaves, paper). Here, in the absence of oxygen (reduction) produces the maturation of enamel, each time with different effects and changing. The typical craquelé is the result of the thermal shock that occurs in the extraction. The black clay, a hallmark of raku, is instead the result of smoking reduction and is sustained in the dialectic pole of the enamel, being both the substrate. As each object of oriental art raku enhances the signs of aging: not banning them, not hide it, not avoid them. Guards them as unique piece and offers them for the vision.
