The International Village Shop is a growing trans-local network of cultural producers who set up trading places for goods with strong local connections.
Tea Bowls
Tea Bowls
, 2007. story geschichte verhaal historia
These wood ash-glazed mingei tea bowls have currently all gone
from the table ... we are trying to persuade the anonymous maker to
send us some more!
Price? Pay what you think is right ...
Pay what you think you are worth ...
In Japan in the early 20th century a movement developed called
Mingei the essence of the movement was an interest in drawing the
unique art work from a mass produced craft objects. There were a
number of rules
The maker must be anonymous
The object must be in everyday use
The object must be low cost hand produced
The collector/connoisseur selects the special/perfect work
Works selected and classified as Meingei are extremely valuable,
there is a beautiful meingei museum in Tokyo (www.meingei-khan.jp) The movement
has corrupted and now it is the maker that is important in the
valuing of the object. In Japan the most senior makers are
designated 'Living National Treasures' and all the objects they
make are highly priced for example a bowl like these ones would
cost in the region of £5,000
The art of selecting 'the one' is easy, it's the perfect bowl - the
weight, the feel, the balance, colour, proportions and the vital
ingredient - signs of the hand of the maker. These subjective
qualities may differ from person to person - a potter will be able
to select almost instantly for the rest of us it may take a little
longer
A contemporary equivalent of this idea can be found in the car
industry where the production line produces the 'perfect' car
approx every 10,000th one. This freak apparently occurs on all
production lines whether mechanised or not.
Hence the value of an object is determined by who values it and how
you and others value yourself, so if you are worth nothing then
neither is your selection, so steal it.
A classic Japanese story from the Samurai period concerns a tea
bowl, a simple humble but 'perfect' bowl that so obsessed two
Samurai warlords that it was eventually exchanged for a castle.
Bowls once identified lead rarefied lives, used daily, kept in
their own boxes and if broken rejoined with molten gold,
consequently they increase in value, both monetary and arguably
aesthetic.
These bowl are relatively valueless, they take minutes to make and
use free materials, clay from the ground and ash from the fire,
wood from the waste wood of the forest to fire them. The only
arguably valuable ingredient is time
So it's all a bit like art then, intrinsically valueless unless
endorsed. Equally you could apply these ideas to everything you
purchase, in Japan fruit is also the subject of this notion of the
selection of the 'perfect' and valued accordingly, a single apple
can cost £10. Realistically we all do this when purchasing food,
hence the drive to produce unblemished and perfect examples - the
Japanese concept allows for the 'perfect' blemish in much the same
way that we might consider a beauty spot.
Lawson Park, East of Lake, Coniston, Cumbria, United Kingdom
Lawson Park
East of Lake
Coniston
Cumbria
United Kingdom
