At the front, the lip dips low enough to expose the black grit. At the back right it rises, bringing a pale face of rock close to the plant. In the photograph released by Hankyu Umeda, the hollow looks shallow in one place and deep in another, all because of that uneven rim.
A small opening in a broad stone
HK.ROCK carves these planters from Mikamo stone from Tochigi Prefecture. This is not clay fired to resemble rock: the space for the plant is cut into the stone itself. Only a narrow patch of grit shows at the base of the plant. On either side of it the shoulders of the stone extend well beyond the hollow.
A streak of ochre cuts diagonally across the front. Below it, a gray vein turns sideways. A small rectangular nameplate is fastened to the face. Its straight metal edge gives the eye a measure of just how uneven the stone is immediately above it.
The maker pairs these planters with cacti, caudex plants and agaves. The plant in the photograph has none of the outward sweep of a long leaf. Instead, short, swollen green shapes gather close together, fine spines catching the light along their pleats.
A stone set on a book
Beneath the planter is a book with a dark cover and gold lettering on its spine. The edge of the cover runs level. Above it sit the base of the stone, the lip of the hollow and the crown of the plant. The outlines grow more intricate as they rise; against that flat support, even the smallest folds stand out.
HK.ROCK’s Mikamo planters are scheduled to appear at Community Park on the eighth floor of Hankyu Umeda in Osaka from November 6 to 8. Back in the photograph, a low fold of green sits almost level with the highest part of the rim. Here the planter does more than surround the foot of the plant: the two stand shoulder to shoulder.