Page 28 - Sharp Summer 2021
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Human Touch
Add a dash of originality to your home with handmade ceramics
UNIQUENESS HAS TAKEN ON NEW IMPORTANCE IN AN ERA WHEN we’re all drowning in mass-produced goods. Who wants to buy something everybody else already owns? It’s why vintage furniture, clothing, and
everything in between are booming, and it’s why we increasingly have an appetite for buying things that are made by hand; we appreciate their idiosyncrasies and minor imperfections. For functional ceramics like vases, bowls, and cups, being made on a pottery wheel or by traditional hand-building techniques means each piece is slightly different from the last. It’s a simple way to add a bit of uniqueness to your home. To help, here are a few of our favourite designers that are hand- making functional ceramics.
  CLAM LAB
From New York’s Catskills, Clair Catillaz makes vases
and other vessels by using traditional hand-building tech- niques or a manual
kick-wheel (most modern pottery
wheels are motor-driven). Clam Lab’s
vases, mugs, and bowls often
take the form of organic shapes and are finished with neu- tral-coloured glazes.
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SUMMER 2021
MIRO MADE THIS
While every plate, bowl, and cup made by Phoenix-based Miro Chun is unique, they all function as part of a larger system and can be stacked for efficient use of space; Chun is a trained architect, after all. She launched Miro Made This
in 2014, six years after taking her first ceramics class.
  RADO × SHARP
The Art of
Ceramic
Rado’s new Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic is just the right amount of modern
Thanks to their form-follows-function design and tough construction, dive watches like the original 1962 Rado Captain Cook have become respected design icons in the 21st century. Like any good designer, however, Rado never stops finding ways to improve upon its creations. The latest example of this is the new Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic, which advances key aspects of its design while remaining connected to the original. The new Captain Cook keeps the clean lines and distinc- tive sword and arrow hands of the 1962 version, but reimagines the 43 mm case in light, scratch-resistant, hypoal- lergenic ceramic. The movement, too, is improved, with a Nivachron hair- spring that’s resistant to magnetic fields, an 80-hour power reserve, and finely decorated components visible through a black-tinted sapphire dial. It’s a stylish and functional tool for modern life, but that was as true 50 years ago as it is today. FROM $4,320
  HEATH CERAMICS
Sure, a piece from the iconic Californian brand may not be as rare as those being produced
by the other names on this page, but Heath Ceramics is beloved for good reason. Since 1948, it’s been pumping out handcrafted ta- bleware that marries durability with good design. Still made in Califor- nia, Heath’s pieces hark back to the heyday of mid-century design.
ALISSA COE
Formerly Toronto- based, Coe now gets her hands dirty inside her ceramics studio in the hills of Piedmont, Italy. Her latest works,
a series of stoneware vases, are a lesson in contrasts thanks to their exteriors, which balance both rough and smooth textures.
   






































































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