Formations in Clay Furniture
14 September – 10 November 2024
Formations in Clay Furniture is a revelatory exhibition that explores and reimagines the role of ceramics in furniture design. The show features seven unique artists, from emerging voices to seasoned practitioners, who are pushing the boundaries of how ceramics can be used to create both functional and design-led pieces of furniture.
Together, they represent a growing trend in clay-based furniture design, reminding us of the everyday applications of ceramics – from our favourite mugs to the intricate components in our cars. The ceramicists in this exhibition take this concept a step further, showcasing the remarkable versatility of ceramics to create works that are as functional as they are sculptural.
Through techniques such as hand-building with coils and slabs, extrusion to form intricate tube-like structures, and the mesmerising Japanese Nerikomi method, where layers of coloured clay are transformed into stunning patterns, these artists demonstrate the power of ceramics to blend form, function, and scale into extraordinary works of art.
We invite you to join us for Formations in Clay Furniture, to explore the selection of monumental and innovative creations that truly elevate the art of ceramics.
Artists
Attua Aparicio
After moving to London in 2009 to study design at the RCA, Aparicio originally explored the possibilities of applying craft techniques to industrial materials, as one-half of design practice Silo Studio together with Oscar Lessing. However, since 2021 she has embarked on solo projects focusing on pushing “primitive” materials, through techniques such as coiling, to new limits to create objects that consider domestic settings. Whether this is turning clay into load-bearing shelves, or using waste borosilicate glass to create self-glazing ceramics.
Ciara Neufeldt
Ciara Neufeldt’s practice is centred on the aim of infusing everyday life with moments of joy, through tactile interaction with colourful installations. She uses techniques such as Nerikomi to create her striking works, believing the environments and objects we encounter on a daily basis possess the ability to evoke powerful experiences. She seeks to explore the intersection of art, craft, publicly accessible environments and function by blurring the boundaries between them.
Elliott Denny
Elliott Denny is a London-based designer. Having graduated from the RCA this year, he used his time at the college to explore the intersection between industrial and studio ceramics and how these methodologies can be interwoven. Elliott looks to other materials and the processes associated with them as a catalyst for new ways of thinking about and working with clay. His practice takes the form of sculpture, furniture and products, utilising a wide range of ceramic processes, incorporating self-built production devices and innovative techniques such as extrusion.
Emma Louise Payne
Oxford-based ceramicist and Director of County Hall Pottery, Emma obtained an MA in Ceramic design in Copenhagen where she learned to push the possibilities of ceramics. Here she learnt to investigate and stretch the physical boundaries of material and detail. In her new collection, she brings her deep knowledge, experience and sensibility to bring together both sculpture and furniture altering, not just the visual and tactile surface of the clay, but in many cases enchanting the architectural environment in which it sits.
Gerald Mak
Based in London and trained at the RCA, Mak is an interdisciplinary artist who works primarily with clay. As explained by the artist, clay is a material that ‘crosses worlds – art, design and craft – where boundaries have long been contested and blurred’. In this way, it is the ‘universal’ potential of clay in both its materiality and long-standing traditions and history that allow him to imbue his works with such thoughtfulness. By using techniques such as slab building in his innovative works of ceramic furniture, Mak uses his works to forge connections across cultures.
Giles Watkins & Mark Lennon
Giles Watkins and Mark Lennon are old friends and collaborators who met while studying sculpture at the Glasgow School of Art. Both have built careers in art fabrication and design while continuing their own creative practices. Their collaborative projects seek to create a harmonious marriage between two unlikely and seemingly opposing materials: ceramics and aluminium. By using colour anodising and glazing techniques, they produce uncanny finishes that highlight the marks formed during the creation of each element.
Zayana Ceramics
Zankhana’s practice is based in Flimwell, East Sussex. Like many potters, her work is the product of exploration, perpetual learning and unlearning, and a daily habit of making. Her own interests centre around acting on the ‘wants’ of materials. She has recently developed her throwing practice into a range of side tables honouring a traditional technique of wheel thrown ceramics.