RSA Design Directions: Ceramic Futures Award
My work for the RSA award explored textures and techniques from weave, embroidery and jewellery making in the production of ceramic pieces. I enjoy working in these areas and wanted to find a way to bring them all together. I worked around the simple form of a cup as it is a good basis for experimenting with construction and decoration. I enjoy making functional pieces and feel that cups have a special quality as the enjoyment of a drink from a good cup is a simple pleasure that I really appreciate.
The cups work together as a collection but show variety and individuality. By experimenting with lots of different design ideas I was able to find the most effective ones and also create an exciting collection of individual cups.
I transferred the textiles texture of both weave and knit onto the range of cups and explored construction techniques with consideration of how I would make the cups if I were working in textiles. The seams where the pieces of clay join became a feature and brought in embroidery techniques through the stitches used.
These cups were all hand built in porcelain. The ideas from this project led to the development of my Textile Cups range. there is more information and images of this work on the RSA online exhibtion www.rsadesigndirections.org