バンコクの朝は早い。朝６前には起きて、簡単な朝食を済ませると叔母と市場へ行くのが日課だった。細い通りには様々な屋台が犇いてて、活気に満ち溢れ、臭いものから、美味しそうな物まで、私の食欲をムズムズさせる。

朝ご飯を食べる人、会社に行く途中にお昼を買う者、学校に向かう途中にジュースを買う者、お寺の御供物を買う者、夕飯の惣菜・食材を買う者、あらゆる人が忙しく動き回る。

市場には決まって食堂がある。半野外の四角い大きなテーブルに食材が並べられ、その中心におばちゃんがオーダーを取りながら、せっせと器に盛り付ける。外で食べる軽食なのでそんなに沢山はいら無い。色々をサクッと、その日の活力に。“おばちゃん！グリーンカレーに目玉焼き１個に後、その野菜炒めもちょっとのせて”、おばちゃんは小ぶりのプラスティックの器を一つ取り、炊き立てのジャスミンライスを盛り、そこにグリーンカレー、ご飯の脇に野菜炒めを少し。お代と交換に器を受け取り、場所取りしてあった席に腰かけスプーンかレンゲで朝の市場の活気と共に頂く。

食べ終わった器を見て、この寸法の器、いつか作ろうねと増田と言う。西洋のスープ皿のちょっと小さめな、アジアンなスープ皿。今日ご紹介するのは初期の作品。赤土に白化粧をしてから、削り、素焼。その後、呉須で絵付けし、青磁の釉薬でコーティングして再び焼成。素朴な赤土に緑色に発色した青磁はどことなくアジアン。真ん中に描かれて花は牡丹の花。有りそうで無い、現代的なアジアンな器をイメージして。

---

Going to wet market in Thai is one of our highlights. We will wake up just before 6am and have a light breakfast and head to the market with my aunty. Morning markets are always full of energy. As you walk into the market, there are fresh or cooked food piled up in mounds, people going around getting some breakfast, buying lunches before going to work, students buying snacks or juices, housewife getting some food for dinner…

When we go to the market in the country side, its also our highlight to have some breakfast there. It is one of the easy ways to taste the local food and you can spot the popular stall very quickly because there is always a crowd around it. Teamwork is very important here at the popular stall, one will hunt and quickly grab a table with the chairs, another will have to work your way into the crowd and get your order across. There are usually tons of food to choose from and you either scream or if you manage to get eye contact, point at the food you want to order. Once the order is made, the lady will swiftly pick up a small plate and place a small mound of freshly cooked Jasmin rice and all the other deli you ordered to go with the rice. You pay as you receive the order and sit at the table, indulge the food with the morning market atmosphere.

As we finish eating our breakfast, we took a good look at the plastic plate and told ourself that we will someday make this plate. The shape is a typical soup plate but the size is a bit smaller to suit the asian size meal. Because of its shape, it will hold a just a right amount of rice with curry with some other veggie as a side, the rims are easily handled while passing the dish around.

The pictured one are one of the first experimental pieces. We used red clay with white slipware then carved out the flower pattern before we bisque fire it. Finished the pieces by painting some blue indigo pigment and glazed it with celadon, oxidation firing to bring out the greens in the glaze. Our interpretation or Asian, edited to suit our modern lifestyle.