We manufacture rare hard German stoneware, but our super rare glazes are even more limited in numbers, transient passengers in time and fading breeds in a world of product levelling. Here is why and a visual catalogue of the hartmud super rares.
Each super rare is so special or complex that over the course of our monthly batches they will rotate in appearance and statistically we will offer each one only a few times per year.
The Levante *super rare* glaze reminds us of lazy Mediterranean afternoon backgammon sessions with too much coffee and the scent of southern winds that carry Saharan sands. In fact we think that it matches perfectly with pitch black Sicilian espresso and spiced Lebanese Mokka, the darker the roast the better - for a change in specialty attitude. In old times we would have sealed our Levantine coffee with a full bodied cigarette from Latakia, for as my teacher used to say „coffee without a cigarette is like sleeping without your woman“. But we live in healthy times and will resort to a strong kiss for that seal.
A matte black of overwhelming density and tactile rawness SHADOW has a polarising touch and feels like hardened lava in your hands. The natural glazing will yield a unique, random flow pattern. Also be aware that the glaze edge has a so called fiery rim, where the volcanic heat kissed the raw stoneware.
The matte white SHOJI glaze is special as it will yield a so called craquelé over time of use. A fine pattern of dense cracking will form on the surface and the residues of coffee and tea will make it more visible over the years. As the name shoji of this glaze suggests, it is a reverence to Japanese wabi-sabi aesthetics which assigns value to age and the patina of regular use. The craquelé pattern is technically safe for use and not a reason for any claims. Also be aware that the glaze edge has a so called fiery rim, where the volcanic heat kissed the raw stoneware.
PEACHES, PINK and VANILLA are the hartmud homage to transcendental lollipop-Art and they sassily tend to vary in their shades of pastel in every other batch what makes them rare Divas.
TUDOR, BLUEBERRY, MINT and SPICE complete the *super rare* tour d’horizon: we call them our four wild horses because they are so hard to apply consistently, and right now TUDOR seems to become a candidate for vanishing in obscurity.
Indeed sometimes our super rares vanish and don’t reappear. Like elusive WATERFALL or VOODOO.
That’s why we call’em super rare, and while all of our stoneware is highly collectible, the super rares are even more so.