London Potters .....In Design@Battersea

About

This selling show -  as it is in the ethos of London Potters’ events - features both established professionals as well as emerging talents and the exhibits reflect the diverse nature and adaptability of clay as a creative medium, with emphasis on innovative and original design. The range of contemporary ceramics on show spans from purely decorative pieces to tableware that fulfil a practical function.

Geology and respect for our fragile earth inspire the hand-built pots of Bridget Macklinwho enriches her fine porcelain pots with found materials. The inside of her pieces is glazed whilst the exterior is polished and waxed to a sensuous lustre; contrast is also the theme in Francesca Vendramin’s work: her tableware plays on juxtaposing minimalist and abstract designs by introducing “terrazzo” effects tiles on her handbuilt and polished plates. Her “wearable” ceramics consist of a combination of hand-formed pebble-shapes in porcelain and assembled with cotton and silk threads using the technique of macrame’. Tableware is also the main offering of Marshall Colman range, who enjoys the challenge of designing a collection that works in the modern home, yet has the freshness and individuality of the hand-made in small batches.
Ulla Mead plays with container forms, creating bottle-shapes that, through manipulation, acquire an almost human character, each one with their own individuality. Her pieces are slab-built and raku or smoke-fired, producing unpredictable results that make each piece unique.
Kyra Mihailovic’s vessels in porcelain and stoneware explore form, colour and pattern to create a strong visual impact; most of her work is glazed inside whilst the hand-painted, textured exterior, fired to high temperature, is left unglazed and beget sensory experience.
Michael Minkoff, Leslie Parrott and Adrian Gonzales expertly throw a wide range of pots that are fired at high temperatures. The clean lines of Michael Minkoff’s  shapes are so fine that they give the impression of “ floating”. Into them he incorporates fine details such as spirals, textures, inlays  that shows under the glaze. Leslie Parrott relies on reduction firing, where his surface textures and impressions enable differences of glaze thickness, that give rise to a rich colour range; Adrian Gonzales combines Japanese reduction glazes with a contemporary modern aesthetics in his series of lamps and tableware.

Precise geometric designs and colour-contrast dominate Sonia Watson’s skilfully built large vases, using and inspired by,,Ladi Kwali traditional hand-coiling technique.  

The coiling technique is also adapted  by Ferri Farahmandi to create sensual sculptures of female forms that are then burnished and smoke-fired to infuse her sculptures with captivating visual textures and delicate patterns.