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. 

The character/demon featured here is taken from a 1892 Ukiyo-e print by Tsukuoka Yoshitoshi, named Pandora's Box.

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.