Iwashi Vase

Sculptural vase - unique piece hand-built by the Artist Noe Kuremoto.

Graduated from Central Saint Martins in London, this artist born in Osaka draws her inspiration and her formal language from Japanese beliefs and myths, in particular everything related to the spirits of nature. 

With this piece, Noe brings us to Setsubun Festival.

"In Japan we have Setsubun festival. Setsubun (節分) is the day before the beginning of spring. When we were kids, we helped making a door decoration Hiiragi Iwashi, literally ‘holly sardine’ is a cooked sardine head impaled on a holly branch. My mother used to source these fish bones from our local sushi shop. We believe that demons which brings illness does not like the strong smell of sardines and they fear getting their eyes poked by the sharp points on holly leaves. Anyhow, I thought this smelly decoration is too intense for our London neighbors so I started to make these vases so I can place our holly leaves for our Setsubun celebration and somehow people kept asking me for these fish born vases so they became my permanent collection! Just a little smelly curious story."

DIMENSIONS: H 32 cm

TECHNIQUE: Hand-building

MATERIAL: Stoneware

GLAZE: White glaze

Carefully wash and rinse after using. This piece is functional but please avoid to display it on fragile surface.