Clear Water, Black Pebbles
These ‘espressos’, from porcelain forged under immense strain which may buckle at any making stage, are designed to float.
I saw porcelain’s potential to be worked to a thin state in the hills of Jingdezhen, experiencing there the wonders of a Chinese tea ceremony where the importance of sensuousness and the mindful nature of ritual are paramount.
So, these espressos are born from exacting, precarious processes and conceived through the lens of contextual experience. The immediate nature of the espresso ritual is a quick fix. But does this mean a mindful engagement with the ritual of drinking can’t take place? If the drink must be knocked back, why not tune up any possibilities for satisfaction and sensual pleasure with the vessel used. The luxury of a quick coffee needn’t be taken for granted. A beautiful cup can connect you to the moment.
Working primarily with a celadon glaze for its calm, icy glimmering surface when coated on porcelain, I’ve looked to the influential figure, Josiah Wedgwood, using his black basalt ware recipe. This colour combination exudes a feeling of a cool mountain stream with celadon water flowing over the black pebbles below. At the opposite end to the delicacy of an espresso cup and saucer are my large corporeal ‘guardian’ (section thrown) vessels. The comparison of scale causes the delicacy of the smaller vessels to become heightened, floating next to the visceral impact of the sculptural forms; architectural and external spaces set against the hand and internal experience.
