Unique teapots

[cloudyday]

I was thinking of getting a centerpiece teapot for myself - a nice,artistic piece and not just a replicated pot that many others may own.
Also, I'd like this one to not be a Yixing. I've had my eye on this
one at Rishi...

http://www.rishi-tea.com/store/product. ... =11&page=1

I love the colors, the texture, the shape, the size (I prefer 12 oz teapots) and the fact that it is a unique, one of a kind teapot.

But although they says it is "glazed", it looks porous (not sure of the details about ash glazing). I'm curious whether that would mean this pot has properties similar to Yixing - whether or not I'd have to dedicate a particular tea to this pot. I'm clueless about this so any information would be helpful before I spend such an amount on a teapot.
Also, does anyone know another source of unique pots such as this, perhaps attributed to specific artists? Though I'd like to stay within a $200 price range! I've seen many unique pots that are very, very expensive.

[Eastree]

The glazing may only be on the inside, leaving the pot a lovely natural finish on the outside, and glazed inside for use with many kinds of tea.

then again, it may not be.

I'd perhaps suggest e-mailing rishi to ask about it ...

[scruffmcgruff]

Doesn't look glazed on the inside to me. It's probably not as porous as yixing, but I wouldn't brew flavored teas, lapsang souchong, or cooked puerh in there unless you want to dedicate it.

[Space Samurai]

It's purous and will retain flavors, though Tokoname wares are genrally not as purous as yixing. Still, at that price I'd be careful.

Artistic Nippon as a great selection of unique, high quality tea pots if you want to take a look.

http://www.artisticnippon.com/product/t ... eindex.htm

[cloudyday]

So I guess if I decide to get that particular pot I should think about dedicating it to one type of tea, at the very least, to be safe. I'll email Rishi and see what they can tell me, also.

Thanks Space I'll check out their wares!

[cloudyday]

I did email Rishi and they said basically what SS said: that it has the ability to retain flavors, but not as much as yixing (paraphrasing). So what I gathered is I'd probably have
to be actively TRYING to season the pot for it to retain flavors. Either way, I'll probly just be steeping oolongs in it.

Anyways, in my quest I ran across quite a few vendors that were selling unique tea items. Though I specifically ended up searching for Japanese bizen yunomi (tea cups), so many will include those, but many of the sites will include other types of unique tea wares...

Artist Specific:
http://www.japanesepottery.com/
http://www.bizenpottery.com/bizen-eshopping.html
http://www.2000cranes.com/
http://stores.ebay.com/MAGOKORODO (beautiful selection)
http://www.trocadero.com/stores/magokorodo/catalog.html
http://stores.ebay.com/Hiromitsu-Japan (very expensive)
http://stores.ebay.com/e-Pottery-Store-Bizen-INBEYA (small selection)

Unique Ceramics & Misc:
http://www.zensuke.com
http://stores.ebay.com/The-Old-Tokaido
http://stores.ebay.com/Gichudo_Japanese ... idZ2QQtZkm
http://www.yuzumura.com/c-3-teaware.aspx
http://stores.ebay.com/Merle-tails
http://stores.ebay.com/sos4college3
http://stores.ebay.com/Bear-Cat-Japanese-Collectibles
http://www.hibiki-an.com/default.php/cPath/23
http://www.buy4asianlife.com/