Studio pottery hashioki (chopstick rests) by Noriko (?)

These studio pottery hashioki are about 3" long x 1" wide x .75" high and are all signed "Noriko" on the bottom. This set came in a generic white box made for holding a set of five objects. They are fairly large and heavy.

Noriko is a feminine Japanese given name, and I am sure that this set was made by a Japanese studio artist, though I found it in the U.S. I located a few Japanese studio potters named Noriko in Japan and the U.K. but not, so far, in the U.S. Not sure if these were a souvenir from a visit to Japan or made in the U.S or Canada. I will probably not be able to find out much more about this artist unless they recognize their work and contact me.

It has been awhile since I have added any hashioki to my pile but finding this set got me interested again. I was attracted by the organic looseness of their design. Most of my pottery hashioki are very uniform in shape, even when hand made and hand painted.

In the future I will be excavating more and posting them on CW as I come across them. There are some collectors who specialize in hashioki, possibly because they do not take up much space and there are huge variety in pottery, glass, metal, wood, etc......