Fajans Mug

Mugs were rarely made in the faience of that period.

Mugs have become an essential part of everyday life. I designed the mug I wanted to use myself.

använda sig av​
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is a Swedish expression meaning “to use”.
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POTPURRI offers many beautiful things for everyday use, including tableware, kitchen tools, cutlery, stationery, textiles and art. In Sweden, displaying tableware and decorative objects
and enjoying the sight of them are also described as “using” them.
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To call something “in use”, we usually think of it fulfilling its intended role. In Sweden, being displayed or appreciated is naturally understood as a role for tableware and art. We find this an interesting and lovely way to see them.
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The generously sized mug is ideal for a large café au lait or a serving of soup.
Useful as everyday tableware, the vivid green and yellow also give pleasure to the eye. The piece offers both practical use and visual enjoyment, in the spirit of “använda sig av”. Tiny air pockets in the softer red clay help it retain heat better than densely fired porcelain.

POTPURRI’s Fajans began when designer Hiroyuki Okami encountered the faience work of Stig Lindberg.

The word faience may be unfamiliar to many people in Japan.
Fajans is a European ceramic tradition of white, tin-glazed earthenware made with pale-yellow clay. It is also known as faience.

During the twentieth century, when Stig Lindberg was active, faience was declining as inexpensive, mass-produced ceramics grew popular. Lindberg gave the understated, unfashionable ware a new life with vivid colours and bold forms. The work continues to attract devoted admirers today.

Since then, the word Fajans has often brought Lindberg’s vividly coloured faience to mind.

Okami first encountered Lindberg’s Fajans as a student. Struck by its freedom and bold design, he travelled to Sweden to explore his own approach to faience. After returning to Japan, he continued his research while working for a ceramics manufacturer. In 2012, he founded POTPURRI and finally introduced his own Fajans.

POTPURRI’s Fajans carries forward Lindberg’s spirit of renewal. It preserves the freedom of the designs while adding the strength and practicality needed for modern life.
Okami’s years of research into clays, pigments, firing temperatures and a new transfer technique led to a new Fajans that withstands metal cutlery and dishwashers and fits into everyday life.

POTPURRI continues to research faience. The collection will keep taking new forms as the makers seek the best tableware for each era.

The traditional faience process, used for over 100 years, produces fragile pieces. Hand-painted decoration can also make them costly and less consistent in quality.
POTPURRI has developed its Fajans collection with various improvements to address these issues and suit modern life.

Microwave and dishwasher safe
For POTPURRI’s Fajans collection, the makers developed clay and glaze for high-temperature firing so the pieces could be used in the microwave and dishwasher.

Resists scratching from cutlery
With traditional overglaze decoration, years of use with metal cutlery can wear away a pattern. For Fajans, POTPURRI developed a method of embedding the pigments beneath the glaze to protect the design.

An accessible price
POTPURRI’s Fajans uses a transfer technique in which printed transfers are applied to the ceramic and fired. Reducing the amount of handwork helps maintain consistent quality and accessible prices. Particular care goes into the print quality so it retains the character of the original hand-drawn artwork.

Research and development continue, including hand-painted faience created for different seasons each year.

Lindberg’s hand-painted faience gives each piece its own expression, even within the same pattern. POTPURRI continues to research how to combine that individual character with production methods that make Fajans more affordable.

Limited-edition, hand-painted Fajans pieces are one part of this ongoing work.
Each design reflects the feeling of the moment and is a one-off, making your encounter with that piece unique.