Our Aesthetic Influences

We’re often asked about our inspiration and influences for making our ceramics, so I thought I’d put down some of our thoughts in this journal post. You can also take a look at some of our visual influences over on Pinterest.

Process, in a very general sense, is a huge part of our aesthetic influence. For us, the design process is not a case of drawing and researching and then sending to production; it is a more nuanced and organic response to a specific material process. And what we make is predominantly process-driven - we make wheel-thrown tableware, a traditional method of production - and therefore our design is established within a certain set of parameters. Because we are only six years or so into our relationship with clay, we are constantly learning about process, and therefore our design is constantly evolving, and, I hope, improving.

We work with an awareness that there is a long tradition of wheel-thrown ceramics, and so it is natural that we take much aesthetic influence from what has come before. We are both drawn to ceramics that are finely crafted, with attention to functional purpose and beauty (a fine and difficult balance) but also that show the mark of the hand. Whilst the processes used by the larger ceramics industry is fascinating to us, it is the aesthetic of pots that are made on a more local and individual level that really appeal most.

One of our favourite potters is Richard Batterham. The more time we spend making ceramics, the more evident it is to us that his work is of such creative integrity and craftsmanship, a very well articulated balance of function, form, beauty and knowledge of materials and process. The mark making on his pots is natural, showing traces of a steady but not laboured hand, and his functional work has a grace but robust functionality which has become a bit of a holy grail for us - and which I don’t think is easy to achieve.

When we first started to make ceramics, we would have a more definite idea of form before we began working, new ideas for forms which we hadn’t seen before, but over time we have realised that in wheel-thrown ceramics there are archetypal forms that don’t need to be reinvented, just tweaked and adjusted, and it is better to begin designing within that context rather than reinvent the wheel, so to speak.

Teapot by Richard Batterham

Many potters begin their careers by making functional ware, and then move on to more decorative, art objects, possibly because they feel it is more prestigious, challenging, lucrative, or even easier. I’m not sure. And it is something we have discussed. But it feels good to have decided that it is functional ware that we will continue to concentrate on for the next five years at least. It is such an interesting topic to us and extremely challenging, not only in the design, but in the market too.  A designer we continually reference upon this subject is David Mellor (whose shop we now stock at). He was both an industrial and product designer, famously designing and making cutlery and knives, but also designing street furniture. A commitment to craftsmanship, aesthetics and function, is a constant source of inspiration to us.

Provencal Cutlery by David Mellor, with rosewood handle

It is impossible to speak about aesthetic influence without mentioning materials. So much influence comes from type of clay, minerals and rocks for glazes, and so forth. We are often influenced by an idea of a material - where it comes from geologically and geographically, it can capture the imagination. Working with found materials is a topic we are increasingly exploring, from clay to wood ashes and so forth.  It is difficult not to find inspiration from the landscape, from the elemental. When working on glazes, it is a less a colour that we are trying to achieve, but perhaps a texture, an exploration of a certain material, such as iron, which we are currently investigating with our wood firings. 

Willow wood ash drying in a biscuit fired plate after being washed and sieved

The aesthetic of making by hand has always driven us and I hope that sensibility can be found within our work. Before potting, Matt was a baker, and now continues to make bread at home. I am interested in dressmaking, knitting, gardening - home crafts that would have been part of an everyday chore list / recreation in the past, for people needed to be fed and clothed. If you follow us on Instagram you will probably see my endeavours at knitting and sewing, and I’m only really dabbling and learning, but it feels like important work too. I hope our son will absorb this love of craftsmanship - I think it’s important to know that things are designed and made by people and come from the earth in some way.

Traditional techniques for making that are kept alive today through production is fascinating to us. A chair maker whose work we love is Lawrence Neal, he inherited his craft from his own father, who in turn had continued the tradition of this type of chair making from another, and so on. To work like this, sourcing the wood, the rushes, and slowly but surely making, is a wonderful thing. 

Photograph, including a chair made by Lawrence Neal

Many people we meet talk about a Japanese influence in our work, but if it is there, it isn’t intentional. Indeed, aside from knowing that there is a great heritage of beautiful ceramics in Japan, we don’t know that much about Japanese ceramics. However, we do both have an interest in Japanese aesthetics and the things that might feed into our work are simplicity, craftsmanship, a respect of materials and light and form. A well loved book which we have both read, is ‘In Praise of Shadows’ by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki.

He writes,

“We Orientals tend to seek our satisfactions in whatever surroundings we happen to find ourselves, to content ourselves with things as they are; and so darkness causes us no discontent, we resign ourselves to it as inevitable. If light is scarce, then light is scarce; we will immerse ourselves in the darkness and there discover its own particular beauty. But the progressive Westerner is determined always to better his lot. From candle to oil lamp, oil lamp to gaslight, gaslight to electric light—his quest for a brighter light never ceases, he spares no pains to eradicate even the minutest shadow.”

― Junichirō Tanizaki, In Praise of Shadows

Light is somehow important in our work. I think because we are working with form, which interplays with shadows, and our glazes appear very differently in varying lights. We photograph our work often, and I have learnt that I am comfortable with my south-westerly lit space in the glazing studio, which makes our work glow and bask in shadows. This is not a big thing, but the way we have come to photograph our work, with attention to light and shadow, has possibly influenced our work on an aesthetic level , from the glazes we develop, to the trimmed angle on a tea bowl footring, which is bevelled just to the point where a shadow forms and gives a small illusion of hovering above the surface on which it sits. 

Photograph by Adam Barclay.

Maybe an unusual influence reference to cite, but one which I will, is the aesthetic of our parents, because I think it feeds in to our work now that we are adults. Matt’s dad, Steve West, was a sculptor, he worked in plaster, bronze, resin and clay. I can see something of Matt’s hand in his preliminary drawings and models. His attention to detail and craftsmanship feeds into Matt’s work, I’m sure of it. The work of Matt’s mum, Jenny West, who works with drawing and sculpture, influences us both on an aesthetic level. She has a wonderful style, both in her work and at home, and we are always inspired by that.