Fern Taylor hand-builds each of these mugs using nerikomi, a traditional Japanese technique of layering coloured clays so the pattern runs all the way through the piece rather than sitting on the surface. Nothing is painted on. Every line of the bold check is clay itself, dyed and worked into natural off-white stoneware, then built up slowly and revealed as the form takes shape.

The large check is the signature here, finished with a transparent gloss glaze that gives a soft depth and shine. Colourways vary with each batch, so choose from the designs shown. Fern trained as a painter before moving into ceramics, and you can see it here, in the colour, composition and pattern that runs through everything she makes.

Holds about 250ml, a proper cup for a morning coffee or tea. Because of the nature of nerikomi, no two are ever the same. Your mug will be entirely its own, shaped by the unpredictability of the process, which is rather the point.

The details

• Hand-built stoneware, nerikomi technique
• Large check motif, colourways vary with each batch
• Transparent gloss glaze
• Approx. 7.5cm wide (not including handle) x 8.5cm high
• Holds approx. 250ml
• Each piece is unique, so yours will vary from the one photographed
• Made by Fern Taylor in Deptford, London