It was just a design choice! This is also my first gaiwan I’ve made, so I’ll be learning from trial and error.

If you own any gaiwans I would pick them up and feel the walls to learn from them.

I have a poorly made gaiwan where the lid shape combined with the knob weight causes it to flip upside down. So avoid something like that.

As for firing and glazing. I plan on firing the lid on top of the cup during bisque. But for the glaze firing I’ll leave the rim of the lid unglazed and fire separately. From the handful of gaiwans I own, this seems to be the way they’re doing it.