Material
Korean porcelain

Firing
Gas

Height (approximately)
18 cm

Width (approximately)
19.3 cm

Weight
2.001 kg

Certificate
Includes a hand-signed Certificate of Authenticity

Status
AVAILABLE

“Condition Good?” was made on my final day training under Master Lee Hyang-gu in Icheon, South Korea, after almost three months of daily studio practice.

Each morning, I would walk in, smile, give him a thumbs-up and ask, “Condition good?” He would smile back and ask me the same. If someone was feeling poorly, it became “Condition zero.” We didn’t share a language, but over time we developed our own way of communicating. After I left, he told me he fondly remembered and missed that daily exchange. As his student, it meant so much to know that this small part of our time together had mattered to him too.

Making this jar, I felt proud, exhausted and strange about leaving just as my hands were only beginning to grasp his method. Over time, he had begun telling me that the “condition” of my pots was improving: the walls were thinner, the forms rounder. He even suggested that one day I might be able to teach. I knew I still had a long way to go, but his encouragement meant so much.

The name holds both that familiar question and the progress it had come to describe. When I look at this jar, I remember the satisfaction of making something I was proud of, and the teacher whose smile greeted me each morning.

The rim has a slight dip along one section, visible in the photographs.