Gold Bakeware, Tableware, Drinkware and Cookware Design · 2025
Redesign of Kurojyoka Drinkware
by Yuki Ijichi
- A' Design Award 2025 Gold Winner in Bakeware, Tableware, Drinkware and Cookware Design
- Awarded April 15, 2025
- CLIENT: MATHERuBA
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 61,038
- Verification code 4E3BD01382 · Verify this award
About Redesign of Kurojyoka Drinkware
This is a redesign of the kurojyoka, a traditional Kagoshima shochu ceramic teapot, to fit modern lifestyles. The traditional Kurojyoka was formed based on the Japanese hearth heating system, and its shape has remained the same despite changing lifestyles. This project is a continuation of Kagoshima's shochu culture and traditional craftsmanship by modifying this aspect and updating the kurojyoka to fit modern lifestyles.
Yuki Ijichi's Redesign of Kurojyoka Drinkware represents a thoughtful engagement with traditional vessel forms, reinterpreting historic ceramic typologies through contemporary sensibility while honoring the enduring wisdom embedded in functional craft heritage. The ensemble demonstrates the designer's sophisticated understanding of how objects mediate daily rituals, transforming the simple act of preparing and sharing beverages into opportunities for heightened aesthetic awareness and mindful engagement. The teapot's distinctive warming stand merits particular attention, featuring four trapezoidal openings that create a visual rhythm of solid and void while serving the practical purpose of accommodating a heat source, thus extending the functional lifespan of prepared beverages and encouraging the unhurried appreciation that characterizes contemplative drinking cultures. Material choices reveal deep consideration of both aesthetic and functional requirements: the iron-rich glaze produces surfaces that patinate gracefully with use, developing individual character over time, while the substantial ceramic walls provide thermal mass that maintains temperature stability. The metallic handle introduces material contrast while referencing traditional metalworking techniques, its elegant arc offering comfortable grip while contributing formal sophistication. The accompanying pitcher and cup complete a service ensemble that suggests intimate gatherings, their scaled relationships implying the measured portions and ceremonial pacing associated with traditional beverage service. Throughout the collection, forms achieve that elusive balance between familiar archetype and fresh interpretation, simultaneously evoking ancestral precedents and asserting contemporary presence. The viewer might consider how such objects, through their quiet refinement and material integrity, invite us to slow our pace and attend more carefully to the simple pleasures embedded in everyday activities.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- This is a redesign of the Kurojyoka, a traditional Kagoshima ceramic earthenware teapot for shochu, to fit modern lifestyles. The traditional Kurojyoka was shaped based on heating in a Japanese hearth, and the Satsuma ware craftsmen did not revise the Kurojyoka to fit their changing lifestyles, but this project is characterized by its sublimation into a modern Kurojyoka by revising this aspect of the project. The fact that the shape has been modified for the modern age.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Kurojyoka, Width 120mm x Depth 146mm x Height 160mm
Cup, Width 75mm x Depth 75mm x Height 45mm
Warmer, Width 114mm x Depth 102mm x Height 63mm
Pitcher for Maewari, Width 80mm x Depth 84mm x Height 205mm - Tags
- Product Design, Redesign, Tableware, Sakeware, Kurojoka, Kurojoka6442, Satsuma ware, Earthenware shochu teapot
- Production Technology
- The redesigned Kurojyoka has a mass produced design so that it can be used as a modern earthenware teapot for shochu and as an everyday household item for enjoying shochu. It is made using casting molding, a technique for mass producing ceramics, in which muddy ceramic clay is poured into a plaster mold.
The material is porcelain, which is durable and can be used for commercial purposes.
The glaze uses shirasu from the Shirasu Plateau, a characteristic of Kagoshima's soil, with the aim of it becoming an everyday household item made from local materials. - Design Challenge
- In redesigning the Kurojyoka, we tried to make it a mass production type for easy general use, but there was a difficulty in that Kagoshima does not have mass production technology. Therefore, we asked a Nagasaki potter with mass production technology to manufacture the product, but used Kagoshima materials for the glaze, thereby creating a Kurojyoka with elements of the production area.
- Project Duration
- The project began in Kagoshima in February 2018 and ended in November 2019 and has been sold.
- Inspiration
- The project began with a request from MATHERuBA, which operates a cafe and store in Kagoshima, to redesign the Kurojyoka, a traditional Kagoshima porcelain earthenware teapot for shochu, to suit modern lifestyles and create an original product.
We therefore researched the origin of the shape of Kurojyoka for shochu traditionally used in Kagoshima, and found design inspiration in the abacus shape described in literature, which we redesigned into a shape that fits today's lifestyle. - Image Credits
- Image #1 : Photographer Masahiko Kukiyama
Image #2 : Photographer Masahiko Kukiyama
Image #3 : Photographer Masahiko Kukiyama
Image #4 : Photographer Masahiko Kukiyama
Image #5 : Photographer Masahiko Kukiyama
Colors of Redesign of Kurojyoka Drinkware
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G0E23 ShopDesign Interview about Redesign of Kurojyoka Drinkware
Reinterpreting Kagoshima's traditional sake vessel, the “kurojoka,” to suit modern lifestyles, making shochu culture enjoyable in everyday life. The fusion of tradition and modernity is the central theme.
We naturally updated the functional form of the “kurojoka,” born from the lifestyle of its time, into a shape that fits contemporary living. We aimed to redefine the “Kurojoka” for today's era by re-examining forms and functions that had been preserved solely for their traditional status but no longer fit contemporary living.
We position the “Kurojoka” not merely as a product, but as a modern shochu culture originating from Kagoshima to be shared globally. We envision its use as gifts and its adoption in restaurants and bars.
The project required about a year and a half of research and prototyping, including traditional investigations, shape studies, and assessments of suitability for modern living.
The project began with a request from “MATHERuBA,” which operates cafes and shops in Kagoshima Prefecture. They wanted to redesign the traditional Kurojoka ceramic shochu pot, used in Kagoshima, to suit contemporary lifestyles and create an original product.
Planned for release as a MATHERuBA original product. Licensing or sales to third parties will depend on future brand strategy, but initial focus is on development under their own brand.
The traditional value of the “Kurojoka” had been declining. By reviving it in a contemporary form, the aim is to preserve the culture and create new markets.
The traditional design of the “Kurojoka” has significantly influenced this project. We were also influenced by Satsuma ware and historical documents related to its design, particularly the theory regarding its origin from the “abacus shape.”
The target audience is those aged 30 to 60 with an interest in Kagoshima culture and shochu. Additionally, gift demand and overseas enthusiasts of Japanese culture are also targeted.
It is not merely a drinking vessel but “re-edits shochu culture itself.” This distinguishes it as a project that meaningfully carries tradition into the modern era through reinterpretation. Another feature is the design encompassing the entire usage experience, including the warmer and pitcher.
“Kurojyoka Redesign Project” = Clearly indicates the endeavor to redesign the traditional “kurojyoka” for the modern era.
For product design, 3D CAD and prototype verification were used; for graphics, tools like Illustrator and Photoshop were employed.
Cultural narratives were integrated into the experience design. Notably, proposing a new cultural experience: “slowly warming by candlelight.”
Collaboration with ceramic artisans and the MATHERuBA planning team. Technical and cultural insights were fused.
Utilized in manufacturing design and material processing with mass production in mind. This was crucial for translating traditional forms into modern manufacturing methods.
Researched Satsuma ware literature, the historical origins of black clay, and shochu drinking customs (like pre-dilution). Translated these into contemporary living.
・The challenge of adapting traditional forms to modern life without compromising their meaning
・Selecting alternative materials (e.g., addressing the decline of bamboo)
・Balancing mass-producibility with cultural integrity
・Selecting alternative materials (e.g., addressing the decline of bamboo)
・Balancing mass-producibility with cultural integrity
A desire to spread Kagoshima culture globally. By having the value of regional culture recognized on the international stage, we aim to open new possibilities for preserving traditions.
The critical importance of “translation skills” when modernizing traditional crafts. Realizing that it requires designing cultural experiences, not merely altering forms.
This project extends beyond vessel design; it is an initiative to connect Kagoshima's living culture—the “time spent around shochu”—to the future.