This Ichi Kitahara piece presents a simple, beautiful design, but also one I'll admit was a bit frustrating to define. Simple it may be, but its shaping really pushes the boundary between a plump, smoothly contoured Billiard, and a lively, charmingly buoyant Brandy. Either way you may choose to define it, the quality of artisanship it displays is far less ambiguous; clean, flowing, seamless plays of line and form, lovely grain, a smart finish, and a finely-balanced profile are here all packed into one handy little package that still retains a good-sized bowl and a surprisingly deep chamber.
- Eric N. Squires
