This product drop is a collection of dinnerware that features forms and glaze combinations that pushed me to adventure beyond shapes and colors that I typically lean towards. This exploration was to test and identify versions of my craft that I feel properly represent my abilities, while creating versions of my work that I want to become uniquely recognizable as my art.

In terms of silhouettes, I traditionally lean towards straight-walled, angular shapes that are sleek and simple. When I began making pottery, achieving sharp corners with drastic edges and thin walls was a challenging feat that I aimed to and eventually got very good at. Although I still very much love making angled wares (as you will see, I couldn’t resist testing new glaze combos on my angled work), I branched out to explore rounder shapes for this series. I found that accomplishing multiple vessels with identical dimensions for rounded walls is much more tedious than angled work, but pushing myself to understand how to shape in this way has made me a better potter.

When I glaze my work, I typically stick to warm, gentle earth tones. For this body of work I wanted to play with glazes that are dramatic and eye catching. At my studio there is a satin (meaning it has a more matte finish rather than a shiny, glossy finish) black glaze that I really liked the look of. I played with a series of test glaze combinations and soon became obsessed with the way that this satin black glaze interacts with several of the glazes that I typically lean towards. The way the glazes melt and marry in the high-fire kiln result in what appears to be an almost crystalline finish but without such exaggerated shine that is standard of classic crystalline glaze. On flat surfaces, this effect is more pronounced and striking. I also had fun with adding more depth and dimension to the glaze results by using different techniques to apply the glazes to my pieces.

I hope these new shapes and colors speak to you as much as they did to me, I had fun making them!