ALEXCIOUS

Bring art into your daily life

When Kaburaki initially approached his team members with his idea of combining a Kutani stem with a wine glass bowl, more than 50 of them insisted it was impossible. Four of them, however, thought that it could be done. Always up for a challenge, Kaburaki decided to give it a go. After much trial and error and months of frustration, one member of Kaburaki's team finally succeeded in firmly attaching a bowl to a stem. The method he discovered has been patented and is, of course, a closely guarded trade secret. By its very nature, each piece of Kutani is created by several different highly skilled artisans, each with their own speciality. As tempting as it might be for Kaburaki to learn the 'stem fixing' method, to him, sustaining his team is more important, each member irreplaceable. The stem fixer's job is as secure as the Spiegelau glass bowl on the Kutani stem.