Cut into superimposed plates, assembled according to a controlled rhythm. The slightly inclined sides meet in clear facets; the trace of the tool remains visible, marking the surface with regular vertical striations. The edge, deliberately irregular, preserves the tension of the shaping. The dense and shiny green enamel catches the light in brilliant sheets and stands out from the unglazed body, with a bluish tint that nuances the whole. The interior, smoother, reveals a sustained shine that accentuates the depth of the material. The object fully assumes its construction: it does not seek the illusion of perfection, but the coherence of a ceramic architecture.
The piece was acquired during a solo exhibition of the artist in Kyoto in March 1997.

Yoko Shigemori (1953-2021) was born in Kagoshima and moved to Kyoto, where she studied painting before devoting herself to ceramics at the Kyoto City University of Arts. A student of Kondō Yutaka , then Yagi Kazuo , she graduated with a specialization in 1979. Faithful to the experimental spirit of the Sōdeisha group, she favored independent galleries over official competitions and exhibited in Kyoto, Osaka, and Tokyo from the 1980s. Her research on structure, nested volumes, and the tension between surface and form earned her the Yagi Kazuo Prize in the late 1980s.
Her works subsequently entered several public collections, including that of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, and were regularly presented at the i-Gallery in Tokyo, where a major retrospective was dedicated to her in 2020. She occasionally taught at Seika University in Kyoto and participated in several Japanese programs dedicated to ceramics before her death in 2021.

Shigemori follows in the footsteps of Japanese ceramists who, since the 1970s, have considered clay as a sculptural material rather than a simple functional support. His works reflect technical mastery combined with architectural rigor: they rise rather than rest, revealing a way of thinking about form that combines sobriety and tension.

Dimensions: 13.5 × 27.5 × 20 cm