Simon secretly wants to be an artist alongside his role as tea-slinger. Using the broken teaware that has accumulated over the years, he's put together this one-of-a-kind piece. 

This work features two dueling octopuses from the woodblock print "Fashionable Octopus Games" (Ryuko Tako No Asobi) by the wildly inventive 19th century artist, Utagawa Kuniyoshi. 

Several layers of paint, traditional urushi lacquer, and NSF-certified food-safe resin (on the outer surface only) were used to create this piece over the course of a month. 

Urushi is a sap from a tree grown in East Asia that polymerizes in the presence of humidity to form a completely inert, food-safe, acid, heat, cold safe surface. It has been used for centuries to make beautiful lacquerware. I (Simon) have been practicing with this medium for over a year now, and finally feel like I can produce some pieces that are at once worth displaying as art and using as fully functional teaware!

Urushi is quite resilient, but still should be treated with care; hand wash only with a non-abrasive cloth or sponge.