Two friends from an arts university started sonoba as ‘a soba shop that makes pottery’. The interior sports an industrial décor, with pendant lights hanging from a ceiling made of recycled wood; adjacent is a pottery studio. Having majored in interior design, the chef was involved in the restaurant’s design and construction. Both artists mould shapes from powder and water—earth for the potter, buckwheat grains for the chefs. An unexpected point in common between vessels and food.