The Sakeware Set

A limited-edition sakeware set perfect for serving Sawtelle Sake.

The set includes a sake pourer and sake cups. Each piece is uniquely handcrafted and displays the contrasting, natural colors of a white slip blend and Death Valley clay.

Two traditional Japanese ceramics techniques, hakeme and kohiki, are utilized to bring out the speckling effect on the design while freezing in time the movement of the painting brush.

An artisan sakeware set balancing aesthetic with functionality.

About the Artist

Koji Everard is an LA-based ceramics artist that specializes in Japanese pottery.

His journey with Japanese pottery started in Tamba, Japan where he trained under potter Masafumi Onishi. Tamba is famous for being one of Japan’s six ancient kilns (Rokkoyo), tracing its history to the end of the Heian period (794-1185 CE). In Tamba, he studied the process of creating yakishime: unglazed wares fired at high temperatures in traditional Japanese wooden kilns.

After his year in Tamba, he studied at Harvard, where he dedicated time at the ceramics studio making pots for soda firing. He then returned to Japan and spent a year in the city of Karatsu at Ryutagama pottery under the tutelage of potter Taki Nakazato. The Nakazato family trace their continuous lineage of practice to the early 17^th century. Taki Nakazato’s father, Takashi Nakazato, pioneered a type of yakishime called karatsu-nanban, building upon his experience investigating indigenous Yokino ware on the island of Tanegashima in the early 1970s. Today, Ryutagama pottery’s philosophy centers on functional, modern pots influenced by Karatsu’s tradition but reinterpreted with a focus on food.

Koji’s work emphasizes his respect for the raw material he works with and his function-oriented design for tableware. Culinary traditions and pottery influence his deep-seated interest in functional tableware, forming the core of his practice today.