Small Black Hakeme Mug

Delight in your tea or coffee with this elegant small Black Hakeme mug, showcasing a graceful gestural brushstroke design by Julie Peel Ceramics.

The Black Hakeme collection by Julie Peel Ceramics has been inspired by Julie's lifelong fascination with the aesthetics of Japanese ceramic art and the atmospheric landscape ink scroll paintings. Hakeme, meaning 'brushstroke' in Japanese, is originally a Korean decorative technique using white slip with a coarse brush over darker clay. It was first developed to disguise or refine the appearance of more common iron bearing clay bodies. It was adopted in Japan in the early 1600s, particularly for vessels used in the tea ceremony, where great value is placed upon rustic simplicity and the concept of wabi-sabi (‘wabi’ subdued, austere beauty; ‘sabi’ rustic patina).

For this collection, Julie uses handmade coarse broomcorn brushes to apply black slip to finished raw porcelain pieces. The brushstrokes are spontaneous and instinctive, adding a touch of austere drama to each piece. This also involves a certain degree of jeopardy as, once applied, black slip cannot be removed from white porcelain without destroying the work.

Each piece is handmade and unique, so patterns will vary piece to piece.

The mug is food and microwave safe. It's also dishwasher safe but handwashing is recommended. 

British ceramicist Julie Peel is the 2025 winner of the Ashmolean x Handmade in Oxford competition to be stocked in the Ashmolean Shop. Julie makes elegant but functional monochrome pieces in stoneware and porcelain, thrown on the wheel and hand-built. Much of her work is inspired by the coastline of the North East of England with a particular interest in protecting the coastal and marine environments.