my mama's table: 2011

at risd works this thursday, dec. 15th, from 1-8pm

holiday sale at divine studios in nyc
sunday dec. 11th, 11am-6pm
21 east 4th st. at lafayette, manhattan

gleena for Mignon Faget

For the last few months I have been producing my gourd bowls sets customized for Mignon Faget, a well-known designer in New Orleans. Mignon Faget provided the hive image, selected the color combinations, and gleena studios did the rest.

The x-large bowls are glazed.

After the glaze firing.

The hive transfer is applied and loaded into the kiln for a final firing.

After the transfers firing.

The final set of four: x-large in pumpkin, large in ivory, medium in slate blue, small in ivory.

The set is available through MignonFaget.com

gleena available online at abchome.com

abchome.com

alabama chanin for heath ceramics: a modern heirloom

Photograph by Spencer Higgins for T Magazine

Photograph courtesy of Heath Ceramics

Photographs courtesy of Alabama Chanin

The new line of Alabama Chanin’s patterns on Heath Ceramics is created by using a very old sgrafitto technique. Two layers of glaze are applied to the surface of the piece, the pattern is created by gently scraping off the top layer to reveal the layer underneath. Each pieces is scraped off by hand, resulting in an irregular pattern, the hand of the maker very much present. I love the combination of perfect machine-pressed form and the imperfect hand-applied surface that results.

murmuration:

a rare flock of starlings. nature endlessly inspires.

Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

Starling

wish i was there

Beautiful photography by Anna Williams for Bellocq, a newly opened tea atelier in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York. Their line of handcrafted blends and organic full leaf teas can be purchased through Bellocq’s online shop. It is a place I will definitely visit during my trip to New York City in November. Can’t wait.

bookhou at home

Currently a featured seller on etsy, Bookhou at Home's linen towels are simply lovely. Like an open window on a fresh spring day. To view more of Bookhou’s creations please visit bookhouathome.

still life saturday with apples

painting by Caravaggio

painting by Gustave Courbet

painting by Elbe van Rooyen

multi-media by Colette Hosmer

painting by Paul Cézanne

painting by Yana Movchan

painting by Toan Thai

painting by Pablo Picasso

In Russia, my autumn was filled with apples. At our dacha, if there was a good crop from the apple trees that year, rooms would be filled to the ceiling with fruit. The house permeated with the apple scent. Some years there were so many apples, they would go unpicked, icing over on the branches. We would try to eat them, thinking they would taste like ice cream.

andrea cook’s delicate etchings

Please visit Andrea Cook’s etsy shop for more.

perfection is macho. and boring. i like to see the hand of the maker. -hella jongerius

Lately I have been focusing on the small imperfections in my work. When I look at gleena, all I see is where I have smudged or nicked or dripped it. I forget the meaning of handmade and Hella Jongerius jogs my memory. The imperfections are what make the work human.

300 hand-touched, imperfect Coloured Vases by Hella Jongerius were on display in the exhibition ‘Hella Jongerius – Misfit’ (13 November 2010 – 13 February 2011) at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam

lovely greens

gray on gray

The pieces have just come out of their molds, leather-hard, and beautiful with a soft satiny finish. The leather-hard stage is when the pieces are stiff enough to handle, but are not completely dried out. It is this surface that many ceramists strive to imitate with glaze, which unfortunately is impossible.

gorgeous sensuality of niche modern

Jeremy Pyles of Niche Modern says: “Do what you love and the rest will follow…” This stunning line of glass pendants came into being in 2003, when Jeremy and his wife and business partner Mary Welch needed to fill the storefront window of their furniture shop with pendant lamps.

Not finding any lighting that struck a chord, Jeremy set out on a quest from Soho to Chinatown, gathering parts to create their own fixtures. Serendipitously running into a glassblower on the street, and doing a quick sketch right there and then, the very first pendant was created. Happy accidents are the best.

gleena in The Wall Street Journal

A great article on handmade tableware by Shax Riegler was published in The Wall Street Journal this past weekend. A gleena swirl plate was featured, which is oh so exciting. I am in great company with many of my inspirations: Edith Heath, Frances Palmer, and Michele Michael. I love what Lisa Neimeth, a featured ceramist, had to say about handmade plates: “it’s sturdy enough to use every day, it’s meaningful and it could become a family heirloom someday.” Indeed!

Shax Riegler has a wonderful book coming out on September 23rd, Dish: 813 Colorful, Wonderful Dinner Plates. It looks beautifully designed in previews, and I can’t wait to get my copy.