Just as in fashion, in interiors trends come and go. Edison light bulbs were all the rage one year… then everyone started decorating with them from airport lounges to the local coffee house and wham bam suddenly they’re everywhere and not so cool anymore. That’s the trouble with trends one minute you’re hot the next minute you’re not. That’s why I say don’t take too much notice of them, as you’ll never keep up.
I so hate the word trend, it’s banned. So not a trend, but a movement I should say that has been gaining momentum for a while now is ceramics. From small batch ceramics, to rustic organic looking pots they’re suddenly everywhere.
Laura Letinsky
From Instagram feeds to the pages of Kinfolk, Milk & Apartmento. Ceramics are the craft du jour, everyone suddenly wants to start throwing them (me included – I’ve been checking out local clay throwing classes!). I’m a little obsessed. Heal’s recently hosted work by Irish designers and makers to coincide with St Patrick’s Day and even had potter Andrew Frew in store throwing bowls – which made me immediately want to become a potter, in a cabin, in the woods like Montana drinking single estate coffee. I digress!
Rewind 20 odd years and I started my career working for Terence Conran’s publishing house. One of the first books I ever worked on as a picture researcher was the Complete Potters Companion by Tony Birks. I knew nothing about ceramics at the time but I become obsessed. Tony was so passionate about the craft he had me hooked. I learnt about Bernard Leach, Lucie Rie, Hans Coper et al and I’ve been pretty obsessed every since. Edmund de Waal, Christine Perrachon and Rina Menardi are my absolute loves not forgetting Astier de Villatte who make dinnerware to die for. If you’re ever in Paris please go to their store it’s like stepping back in time, I literally have to be pulled out! Normally by the M’s who start barking with boredom.
All my dinner plates are hand thrown, as are my coffee cups, platters and bowls. I’ve loved ceramics ever since I first began working on that book. So why now all of a sudden are they so the accessory of the moment? Just a hunch, but I’m guessing it’s in opposition to the fast paced crazy technology centred world we all live in. We no longer want slick we want warm – we want things that tell a narrative and add dimension to any space. The exciting thing about ceramics is that connection to the creator – you sometimes literally see a thumbprint or an impression left in the finished piece. It’s kind of magical.
I’m super excited to be working away on a new dining selection which we’ll be introducing in the new store. We’re working with some amazing ceramicists and will have some incredible pots and vessels as well as platters handthrown but also mass-produced ones. I’m not snotty about how they are made, I just need them to look amazing! That of course is still a few weeks away. In the meantime these pots are on my current lusting list. They’ve only just arrived in store and I’m thinking they will look fabulous with the odd sprig of our meadow fauxs popping out. What do you reckon?