Bathed in a dusky blue glaze, inscribed with a hand-crafted icchin drawing, and dappled with gold, Yukiko Wada’s Dessert Plate is as much a work of art as it is a functional object.

Yukiko Wada’s Dessert Plates are individually thrown, sculpted, and finished entirely by hand. Using a thin tool with a needle-like point and her own signature mixture of liquid clay and porcelain powder, Wada paints a delicate, raised, three-dimensional pattern on the plate before firing it—an elaborate, time-consuming technique known as “icchin.” The floral design on the face of the plate—accented with a touch of pure gold—was improvised in real time, making each example truly one of a kind.