Vintage Teaware

The chawan is the oldest object in any matcha practice. Before the whisk, before the scoop, before any particular tea — there is the bowl: the vessel that determines how matcha is prepared, how it cools, how it sits in the hands. In the classical tradition of chado, selecting a chawan was understood as a statement of aesthetic sensibility, a choice that revealed as much about the person holding it as about the object itself.

The pieces in this collection were sourced at specialist auctions and antique markets across Japan — from the celebrated Ōsu market in Nagoya to the auction houses of Tajimi in Gifu Prefecture, the historic heartland of Mino ware where Oribe, Shino, and other foundational tea ceramic traditions were born. Each bowl dates from the early to mid twentieth century, ranging from the Taishō era to the later Shōwa period. None are reproductions. Each carries the specific weight, texture, and surface character of an object made by hand, fired once, and used.