cake ceramics

although brooklyn’s cake is comprised of four industrial designers who work in a variety of materials, my eye naturally goes to their retro modern ceramic collection, and let me tell you i am liking it a lot.

the colors and shape of those cups are really perking me up too.

check them out at the supermarket and also see their website for more cool products.

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outline vase by mocha

i am enjoying the shape of this little porcelain outline vase from the folks at uk’s mocha.

purchase this piece for £29.95 (about us $60) and see many other cool things right here.

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hudson beach glassware

look at this beautiful, functional glass collection from hudson beach glass. the four artists who make up this collective — john p. gilvey, wendy gilvey, michael benzer and jennifer smith — use several techniques, including casting the glass by hand and etching it for even more texture and depth. nature and the sea are influences, as you can see from the organic detailing they’ve included on these pieces.

purchase select pieces here and there, and see more of this sculptural collection on the hudson beach glass website.

via the ecosalon

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zsa zsa vase by joanna davies

look at this beautiful zsa zsa vase from the uk’s joanna davies. do you see her intention here — to juxtapose an ornate rococo style with the rather staid base form to explore contrast? yes, i see it, but to me this piece looks more like a strange sea creature that snorts water and sits on the bottom of the ocean floor. i reckon, in application, that is exactly what it does. it’s made of porcelain and no two pieces are alike.

bonus: the loopy spouts (snouts?) are a great cheat for beautiful flower arranging.

purchase it (not inexpensively, at £189.00) here, and see more organic beauty in joanna’s designs here.

via cribcandy

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sarah thirlwell contemporary wood accessories

i love the contemporary handturned birch, ash and sycamore home and personal adornments with vibrant acrylic accents from uk artist sarah thirlwell. sarah uses sustainable timber and reclaimed acrylic to create these pieces, and her collection includes vessels, vases and jewelry.

sarah will be exhibiting at the liverpool design show from june 19th - 22nd, 2008. see her full collection and contact her on her website.

via cribcandy via designklub

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elizabeth perkins glass art & sculpture - let’s chat!

beloved readers, let’s all take a deep breath and dive into the amazing art, sculpture and installation work that virginia artist elizabeth wade perkins creates. it is simply mesmerizing and after a good long stare, i am swept away by the richness of even a single vessel, so fluid and steeped in her personal history it all is. elizabeth uses a variety of techniques, including casting, blowing and pâte de verre, which is the centuries-old type of casting she does to create her beautifully detailed lace pieces. to me, her noteworthy technical skills aren’t the only secret of her success here; there is also the skillful underworking (or should i say perfect-seeming working?) of an amalgamation of ideas — the concepts of time, place and memory. in these works you will find a consistent complexity that is whole and complete, and collections that are wry, nostalgic and absolutely current. let’s have a chat with elizabeth and find out more!

q: where do you live, and where do you create your art?
a: i live on a farm named red bud in bumpass, virginia. it has been in my family for seven generations and its older name was seclusion farm. it is located in bumpass by neighboring areas called three square, tip top, cuckoo, and holly grove. bumpass is between richmond and charlottesville in louisa county. i make my work in my grandfathers old fix it shop. it’s a wood frame building covered in metal. it’s heated by a wood stove that my grandfather fabricated out of a number of wheel rims (from an old pick-up). he mended and made things in there to keep the farm running; everything from tractors to electrical. he invented this really cool system to keep his pigs hydrated. my favorite thing he invented in the shop was a light that was over the fridge to indicate that the toilet was running. he had hearing aids, so he couldn’t hear it. however his chair in the den was situated so that he could not only see out the “picture window” or look at television, but he could see the light over the fridge which indicated the toilet was running. when the light would turn on, he would go in the bathroom and jiggle the handle. god only knows why he didn’t just fix the toilet, maybe because it only ran sometimes or maybe because he used what he had at the time to fix the problem.

i think the whole thing is just awesome and ingenious. i’d like to think i got my creative mind and hands from him.

q: what is your background, and did you study art formally?
a: i grew up in southern rural america. my undergraduate degree is in sculpture from the atlanta college of art, and my graduate degree is in craft material studies from virginia commonwealth university. my favorite place to learn is at the penland school of crafts. though i am formally trained as an artist, i have learned a lot from my personal experiments and am more frequently informed by my subjects rather than my “education”. i seemed to get in trouble from time to time in school; like the time i showed up with a huge bale of hay as a component of one of my works. let’s just say… when you see those things on the side of the road out in the field they seem kind of small, but they are not. they are massive and beautiful. sometimes it takes bringing the outside inside and the inside outside for us to really have an understanding of what we are looking at. if you see the forms in resuscitation (photos below) they are taken from that bale of hay. everyone on my graduate committee at the time told me that piece was technically impossible to build in porcelain and impossible to slump over in glass. i like making the “impossible” possible. they don’t teach you how to do that in school. i think those kinds of quests are personal and are brought about by our experiences, desires and willingness to fail.

q: (without giving away any secrets of course!) can you tell us a little about the techniques you use?
a: there aren’t really any secrets to it. mostly it’s paying attention to what you’re doing, learning from what you do, seeing the potential and identifying the control in your artistic experimentation and investigations, working hard and being patient. i use many processes. i blow glass free hand, i also blow glass into both cold and hot blow molds. whatever is appropriate for the form and will make its potency more… stinky and real, honest perhaps.

i also kiln cast and use the pâte de verre method of casting. i use techniques that are appropriate to my forms and the ideas i want them to convey e.g., fragility, texture etc. most works contain glass.

q: how do you think your work has transformed since you started making art?
a: in one of my artist statements i say, i am still the naive child searching around the house for hidden treasures in the old furniture and cupboards. i have the same nosiness and fearlessness as i did as a child. (inquisitiveness, perhaps.) as i’ve grown i have discovered the complexities of these nooks and crannies and have built a larger visual vocabulary by being inquisitive. i have practiced a lot. i have been seduced by my material and its traditions but i walk and practice outside those traditions and former histories. i think there are so many new forms to be made in glass.

q: what is the price range of your collection?
a: $50.00-$20,000.00

q: what is your inspiration for these works? do you have a message you want to send through these pieces?
a: i am interested in values and traditions; how they evolve and linger through the ways we experience life, art, and craft. i am interested in what remains inside and outside of these notions; works that give the viewer something to hold onto and in some cases to let go of. in other words, what we give birth to, what we pass on, and what we take with us when we pass away. i feel my most successful pieces deal with these complexities simultaneously.

q: where can we go to see your collection in person? is there anything else meaningful you would like to include?
a: i will have a trio of medium glass lace pieces in the urbanglass gala and auction in new york on april 4th, 2008. i am currently seeking gallery representation. i have a website with many of my works. my email is included on the site, and if you are interested in buying my work you may contact me through my website.

thank you elizabeth! and special thanks to burt for putting us together (and taking these last two photos)!

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orgeramic vase by ross lovegrove

this sculptural orgeramic vase was borne from a contest from dutch ceramic collective cor unum, challenging designers and architects to create a piece of ceramic jewelry for the home. this limited edition piece is what welsh industrial designer ross lovegrove fashioned for his earthy entry.

find it at generate.

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skogstad/vold product design: let’s chat!

ever since i caught a tiny glimpse of their work on designboom, i have been charmed and slightly obsessed with the clean, youthful designs of petter skogstad and haakon vold, for their company skogstad/vold. the items they have included in their collection are fresh, playful and inviting all at the same time. the designs have a flexible versatility, which make them appropriate for use in a variety of applications. to me the outstanding consistent theme here is the focus and balance of both masculine and feminine qualities. i love their stealth lounge chair (above), which was inspired by modern military aircraft, but it also reminds me of the opening petals of a flower. i enjoy the minimal lines and strong material of the steel break vase (below), which softens and transforms when flowers are placed within it. and of course this balance is clearly demonstrated in the graphics on the appropriately named fun wall clocks. these are the thoughtful qualities that compel us to appreciate, seek out and live with quality design everyday. let’s have a chat with haakon and petter and find out more!

q: where do you live and where do you design and make your collections?
a: we both live in oslo, norway, and we are senior students at akershus university college of product design (bachelor). we make most of our prototypes in the workshops at our university, but for bigger projects and production processes we use other companies with the competence we need.

q: what is your top priority (or the most important element) when designing furniture?
a: to create products for the future. we focus on making contemporary products where aesthetics, function, environment and high quality play a big role.

q: who or what are your main influences?
a: we get inspiration from nature, specifically norwegian nature and clean shapes. this is further enhanced by exploring new materials and technology. we also have some favorite designers: ronan and erwan bouroullec, konstantin grcic, stokkeaustad, norway says, arne quinze, karim rashid and mid to late century scandinavian design (in the 60-70’s).

q: are any of the pieces in distribution yet?
a: no, not yet, but we hope some of our products will be in production soon. we have a catalogue and website and have been in contact with a few manufacturers.

q: do you have a favorite material you prefer to work with?
a: we are trying to work with new materials, new technology and new production processes all the time, so we have no favorite material.

q: what is the best single piece of advice you have received as designers?
a: keep it simple and focus on the details.

q: how would you finish the following sentence? the future of design…
a: the future of design will have more focus on the environment and it will be important as a designer to focus on the whole life-cycle of the product.

skogstad/vold will be exhibiting these pieces and some exciting new prototypes too at the milan international furniture fair, from april 16th-21, 2008. they will be located in the area considered the launching pad for young designers, called saloneSatellite. i have high hopes that production with a quality manufacturer will begin soon, and look forward to seeing their pieces here in chicago someday.

thank you haakon and petter!

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elizabeth burritt ceramics

“what is the matter with this woman she is only posting about clay today” you may be thinking to yourself but hey! the wind blows where it blows. and by now you know how i love the clay! tomorrow will be very different i assure you but just for today, let us finish the show with a selection of gorgeous vessels from vancouver artist elizabeth burritt.

elizabeth’s website is currently under construction but you can contact her through it.

purchase and view select pieces of her collection at circle craft and the gallery of bc ceramics, both on granville island.

via poppytalk (who has some other good photos of the collection!)

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hannah morrow ceramics

more striking ceramics from london-born, los angeles based ceramic artist hannah morrow. these pieces are made of bone china. the stickers collection is a tribute to ceramic souvenirs while the unadorned hedy collection simply celebrates purity of form.

those simple shapes are very inviting and would definitely encourage me to linger over a meal…

see more and purchase it all on hannah’s website.

via design sponge

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madieke fleuren ceramics

look at these extraordinary ceramics from dutch artist madieke fleuren. madieke’s collection is a reinterpretation of different textures, like leather and yarn, as seen below:

gorgeous. gorgeous. gorgeous!

see more beautiful things and contact madieke on her website.

via bloesem

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bob crooks art glass

it may be sunny outside today, but we are still in the throes of winter here and i still need my shots of color. i will take them with gusto from the inspired glass work of uk artist bob crooks. bob is an internationally exhibited artist who has a studio in devon, and his one of a kind collection is made entirely by hand. bob is inspired by the material itself, in addition to architecture, nature and geometry. drilling deeper into those ideas he has made a success putting together soft curves and crisp angles with cloudy and clear surfaces. he has created a collection that compels us to discover the details.

this work makes me feel good, looking at the colors. this work makes me feel inspired, to see someone who so clearly, masterfully, effortlessly seems to integrate his talents and skills. we should all be so lucky to do that. we should all be so lucky.

see more beauty on bob’s website. when visiting the victoria and albert museum, be sure to look for his work there in the permanent collection. you might also be able to spot select pieces at cecilia colman, tracey macnee and the steam gallery at beer.

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