After water, tea is the most frequently consumed drink on earth—no Indian or Egyptian or British day would be complete without it. The Japanese turned the drinking of it—from beautiful ceramic bowls—into an art form. These four contemporary ceramists make vessels worthy of any tea ceremony you’d care to invent.
Tea Time
Contemporary cups for an ancient tradition.
By Shivaun Watchorn
February 7, 2024
Photo by Miro Chun
White porcelain teacup by Miro Chun, 2.25 x 3.5 x 3.5 in.
Ceramic Meltdown’s Colorblast Cups come in a variety of lively patterns, including ovals, dots, leaves, and this leopard print offering, 4 x 4 x 4 in. A prolific ceramist, proprietor Kyle Lee cofounded BKLYN CLAY and teaches wheel and surface classes at Gasworks NYC, also in Brooklyn. / $80
Photo by Kyle Lee
There’s an elegantly simple teapot and mug-and-saucer combo in Collection 4.5 from Estero, Florida–based Jordan Blankenship of JordanBCeramics. The set, which also includes jars, a coffee pour over, and a juicer, is made from white stoneware glazed in black matte; each component has a beguiling white rim. The setup is modular, and each component can be stacked in any order atop the mug and saucer for storage. Mug measures 4 x 4.5 x 4.5 in. / $55
Photo by Reba Johnson
Dan Ohm, the Kansas City, Missouri–based potter and DJ behind Dan Ohm’s Dirt, makes three-piece stoneware tea infusers, 5 x 5 x 4 in., perfect for brewing and sipping a hot cuppa. A basket that can hold loose leaves or bagged tea rests under the lid of a handled mug. The peaceful decorative pattern on the cup evokes the meditative joys of tea drinking. / $60
Photo by Dan Ohm
“There’s a gravity, heft, and coolness to the touch that is unlike the materiality of any other commonly used functional goods,” says Miro Chun of Miro Made This about her smooth, heavy white porcelain teacups, 2.25 x 3.5 x 3.5 in. The Phoenix-based ceramist also collaborates with her mother, Changsoon Oh, an abstract painter, on special runs of painted teacups. / $52
Photo by Miro Chun
Miro Chun, one of the makers in this article, was featured in The Queue.
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