Tag Archives: Design Factory

Doing Two Things

A couple of weeks ago a friend gave me a few moulds which she was throwing out.  At the time I was not sure that I was going to get much use out of them but she was eager to clear the decks and I can’t bear seeing things go to waste so I stuck them in the car wondering if I would ever use them.

This week, whilst in the studio trying to resist the temptation to fiddle with my hand built vessels before they were ready for the next stage, I decided to divert my attention by having a go with some of these moulds. 12791069_592519110914469_2831442777033290601_n[1] The results were beyond my wildest dreams.  Lovely shapes began to emerge; jugs and mugs with really great proportions.  I am really delighted to have found something to do with myself to prevent me overworking my main pieces and I think they might be quite popular in the gallery at Klay in Camden.

At first I was not too sure about making functional ware as well as my more contemporary sculptural pieces.  They are not in the same league and I have been thinking that I needed to stick loyally to one thing and let it speak for itself.  Indeed, one of the debates which we entered into during the diploma was about this very subject and I had come down firmly on the side of staying with what I am trying to say.  However, the comments which have come back about them have been encouraging and a number of people have told me that the two different ways of working will complement each other and increase interest in my work.  Plus I have already seen what sells on a regular basis at our gallery and it tends to be the smaller, functional pieces.  I cannot bring the costs involved in my main work down very far even if I do make them small.  In addition I do want/need to sell enough work in the gallery to make it a worthwhile venture so perhaps it is a good idea to have the two strands running parallel.

So, here goes, all I have to do now is fire them, polish them, glaze them and fire them again.  Then they will find their way to Klay and to the next open studios at Wimbledon.  If they prove to be popular at these two events I shall take a whole load of them to Kew Gardens for Handmade next autumn where I have just heard I have been given a space to exhibit with the Design Factory .

So thank you , Paula, for my new toys.  I am having a lot of fun with them whilst my other work firms up.

 

Rubbing Shoulders with the Future Greats!

Last autumn I was lucky enough to be invited to exhibit at the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair.  It was a fantastic weekend and whilst it didn’t lead directly to me making my fortune it did open up other opportunities for me, one of which was my recent invitation to become a member of the Design Factory as an emerging maker.  This, in turn is leading on to other things.  But this blog is not about me.

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My stand at the GNCCF

One of the people who was exhibiting close to me was a lovely young lady called Hannah Tounsend.  It was not the first time that I had met her, she had been at the New Designers exhibition in the summer and I had also seen her work in the British Ceramics Biennial at Stoke on Trent on my way to Manchester.  Both times her work had struck me as different and exciting.  We stood side by side over the weekend in Manchester and I mused on the possibility, if I sold a lot of my work, of owning one of hers.  This is so often the temptation – to spend my hard won cash on other ceramics rather than food!  Sadly, this time, I resisted the temptation and came away empty handed. This might have been a mistake!

 

Unsurprisingly, Hannah went on to win Fresh.  Then yesterday my new copy of Ceramic Review landed with a thump on the door mat.  At the first opportunity I curled up in a chair with it and a coffee to indulge in my favourite activity of flicking through to prioritise the order of my in depth reading later in the month; it always makes me think of opening a box of chocolates and lining them up with the fudge at the front of the line and the strawberry creams at the other end.  This time I was stopped in my tracks by one article: There she is again, smiling out from the pages of an article on Ones to Watch, cradling one of her large, atmospheric pieces and definitely going places!

Hannah’s work combines throwing and hand building to create large porcelain pieces which have a fabulous printed surface inspired by the cliffs and coastline of Britain. Her pieces are strikingly beautiful.

This girl is making such a splash with her wonderfully fresh vessels that she actually appears twice in this edition of Ceramic Review; there is a short article on her in the CPA news section of the magazine as well.  I think I missed a trick in Manchester and my advice to collectors is to grab a piece of this girl’s work before she is too expensive.  After all, another article which I need to read properly this month talks of a Lucie Rie piece which was bought in 1975 for £36.00 and has just made £32,000.00 at auction!

Go Hannah!

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Hannah Tounsend is definitely going places!