Despite the Shield being a shape that is almost exclusively seen in a smooth finish — what, with being designed to show off a specific type of grain pattern — Il Duca's Max Rimensi has here furnished us with an organic, partially sandblasted iteration inventively keeping both the usual cross cut grain pattern at the fore and tightly packed ring grain rising up the cheeks behind the delineating line, while the aft of the bowl display an impressive showing of blasted birdseye. Dressed in a warm contrast stain further con-tasted to a black stain for the sandblast, it's paired to a jet-black vulcanite stem and a three knuckle stretch of black bamboo, this piece offers an unconventional study in grain patterns, shaping, and finishing.

— Adam M. O'Neill