From conception to final firing, each ceramic form is wholly hand crafted by Charlie Barmonde, whose passion for pottery springs from his need to create. His desire to construct forms that reflect nature is the basis for his artwork.

However elegant and simply stunning are Charlie’s ceramics, he insists that his work is meant to be used. Part of the joy and reward of his ceramic forms are their tactility, their smooth and sensuous surfaces. Predominantly functional, his artwork ranges from classic place settings of cups, bowls and plates, to large and abstract sculptural fountains. His most recent work includes sleek, slab-built vases and fountains whose unique textured surfaces resemble fossils from the earth. The mysterious, benthic forms found in ancient sea beds and caves have inspired this gestalt. Weather patterns, the shape of waves, and his knowledge as a mariner, too, charge Charlie’s work. Similarly, his hand thrown pottery, with its soft lines and subdued glazes, is similarly natural. Every piece is one of a kind, varying in glaze, size or design. Because each line of his wheel-thrown forms is of a limited number, Charlie continues to evolve artistically, assuring his clients that their purchased wares are unique and rare.

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I make objects because it feels very human to me.  It gives me a sense of participation in this time I have been given.  I am always at a loss for words when I view the perfection of nature.  My work is a feeble attempt at interpreting its wonders.  Nonetheless, I feel a need to work with materials that in a visual or tactile way take me back to our elemental roots.  What machine can do this?

I am captivated by the daily use of an object.  I try to design pieces that feel good to use and in return provide joy to the user.  When you pick up one of my mugs, I’m not trying to have a conversation with you.  I would like you to think about how that piece is contributing to your experience.   Remember that a person made it.

-artist statement

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photos by:  Grzegorz Stadnik, Czeslaw Chwiszczuk, Monika Patuszynska

I have been casting for over ten years. Recent work balances on the edge between editioned and unique pieces, the main emphasis
shifting from the final object to the creative process itself, to material and technique. The plaster mould is just a beginning, not as usually happens, the end of the process of creation. I like to let accidents lead me. I like accidents, feeling that they occur when the world turns a blind eye, looses vigilance and reveals the truth about itself.
Slipcasting,
Chasing accidents,
Always checking what is through the looking glass.

-artist statement by artist
“Monika Patuszynska actively seeks out difficulties posed by working in porcelain, difficulties that often cause ceramists to stick to tried and tested ways of making. She wants the problems, she literally sets herself tasks that are so challenging she needs a plan B and C to fall back on. Her experience of porcelain factories led her to the conclusion that perhaps those seams and edges from the casting process, those that we strive to remove yet so persistently re-appear, are in fact an essential part of the clay, its tendency, its want. So, like the antithesis of a porcelain factory worker she sets about smashing the moulds, sawing them into shards, then piecing them back together to create new formations, to make new molds. She actively seeks the seams, edges and broken textures to create dynamic and fluid forms. The process is like fitting together an awkward, jutting jigsaw. That it works, that the porcelain cast survives with contrast in thickness and texture is perhaps in part due to serendipity but more essentially, to an exceptional  knowledge of the material.”
(Dr Natasha Mayo, “Porcelain Another Way”, 2010)

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ZU MEINEN ARBEITEN

Alle Gefäße sind auf der Scheibe gedreht, verformt und bei ca 1300° C in der offenen Flamme gebrannt.

Bei der Gestaltung meiner Gefäße spielen Formgebung und Malerei eine ebenbürtige Rolle. Ich lasse mich von Intution und Ratio gleichermassen leiten. Ziel, sowie Antrieb meines Tuns ist das Streben nach Klarheit, Prägnanz und Entschiedenheit. Dies spiegelt sich auch in der farblichen Reduktion wider: weiße Gefäßkörper aus Porzellan bilden den Untergrund für schwarze Glasurmalerei.

Vornehmlich schlichte Zylinder werden auf der Scheibe achsensymmetrisch rund gedreht, im lederharten Zustand durch Klopfen verformt oder zerschnitten, um sie dann neu zusammenzusetzen. In beiden Fällen verändere ich intuitiv die vorhandene From. Mittels der entstehenden Kanten akzentuiere ich prägnante Partien. Oft erhält ein Gefäß auf diese Weise mehrere “Gesichter”, die sich erst aus unterschiedlichen Blickwinkeln erschliessen.

Die Malerei nimmt stets Bezug auf die Form. Sie läßt sich in drei Hauptgruppen einteilen: Intarsienzeichnung, gestische und geometrische Malerei.

-about the work by the artist

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all photography credit: Christopher Sanders

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Tara Shackell is a ceramic artist living and working in Melbourne. She makes functional tableware including plates, beakers and bowls, as well as other ceramic objects including vases. She has always been interested in the method of making things.

Tara is interested in the relationship between form, line and surface. She works intuitively, using the wheel as well as pinching, shaping and carving the clay by hand. Her current work focuses on creating functional forms and simple objects that express materiality, quietness and space.

-about the artist from artist website

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Porzellan _italien. porcellana,
urspr. Name einer Meeresschnecke mit weißglänzender,
porzellanartiger Schale _ das , die feinste Tonware.
Porzellan besteht aus
40-65% Kaolin (Porzellanerde)
15-35% Feldspat
12-30% Quarz

Porzellan ist sowohl ein sehr sensibles, als auch ein sehr charaktervolles und eigenwilliges Material, das eine besondere Sorgfalt und Aufmerksamkeit beim Entstehungsprozess erfordert und einfordert.
Die charakteristischen Gegensätze wie Dichte, Härte, Leichtigkeit und Transparenz, die das Material in sich birgt, faszinieren mich und sind eine Herausforderung für meine Arbeit. Diese Qualitäten des Materials aufzunehmen, mit ihnen zu arbeiten, sie zum Vorschein zu bringen ist mir ein Anliegen. Die auf der Drehscheibe hergestellten Gefäße sollen dem Betrachter diese ureigenste Charakteristik des Materials vermitteln.

So entstehen Keramiken die durch ihre klare Form sowohl für sich alleine stehen können, als auch ihre Funktion unterstreichen.
In der Oberflächengestaltung nehme ich gerne das Thema der Polaritäten wieder auf, glatt – strukturiert, glasiert – naturbelassen. Die unterschiedlichen Oberflächen werden so begreifend zum haptischen Erlebnis.
Der besondere Reiz meiner Porzellanarbeiten lebt von dem Kontrast zwischen der Kühle des Materials und der organisch inspirierten Formgebung.

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The estethic of Terttulla Ceramics is highly influenced by Scandinavian, American mid-century, and Japanese design. Functionality and design are equally important, and durability and sustainablity are two key words that go in to every object made. The intent is that each piece will last you a life time, and then be picked up in a thrift store and last another life time. It is an answer to our throw-away culture that pays less and less attention to quality and integrity, and more and more attention to quantity and consumerism.

Each piece is thrown or built, trimmed, sanded, and glazed by hand in a one-woman studio in Los Angeles, California.

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 Since graduating from the celebrated Harrow Ceramics course in 1994 Daniel Smith has worked from the same East London studio he helped establish. This continuity is reflected in his work with a commitment to exploring the same family of useful forms – plates, bowls, cups, jugs, vases. Most pieces are hand-thrown in porcelain with a pared down aesthetic just occasionally emphasised with simple decoration. With quiet dedication Daniel has built up a loyal international following over the years, his work appealing to both collectors and those who like beautiful, eminently functional objects for everyday use.

‘Smith’s apparently modest vessels show how sensual the utilitarian can be. What results is a kind of sculpture of the everyday‘  David Whiting

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