Ruby Pilven at the NGV

a gorgeous new collection of Ruby's ceramics
is now available at the NGV

top/bottom image credit - NGV

Ruby has been selected by the NGV to create an exclusive collection to coincide with
Masterpieces from the Hermitage: The Legacy of Catherine the Great 

The collection is now available at the NGV store.

image credit - Ruby Pilven

The Hermitage exhibition runs until Nov 8th
but Ruby's collection may sell out well before then!

In case of an NGV sellout, there's always a few treasures from Ruby's jewels here...

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new Lene Kuhl Jakobsen

a small collection of new ceramics by Lene Jakobsen have just arrived

signed & numbered wood-fired vases

painted glaze lines
and tones of umber, sienna, ochre & pumice . . .

all handmade & one-of-a-kind

Lene is a Danish-born artist living in Melbourne . . . 
you can read her interview from March 2014 on the blog 

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meet Elnaz Nourizadeh

After a spontaneous visit to Northcote Pottery late last year I ended up chatting with potter, Sarah Schembri, who happened to be working in her studio that day. Before leaving, I mentioned to Sarah that I was on the lookout for emerging potters with a unique style . . . a few weeks later she introduced me to the work of Iranian-born Elnaz Nourizadeh. The 
colourful glazes & organic shapes of Elnaz's one-of-a-kind pieces caught my eye immediately! 

A hand-picked selection of Elnaz's ceramics can be found in the store
& there are more beautiful works on the way.

Read on to discover a little about Elnaz & her ceramics . . . 
 

Tell us a little about your art background & studies

I was born in 1985 in Tehran. I started pottery and ceramics when I was teenager, as a hobby, then I continued my work as my ceramic teacher’s assistant.  I studied Industrial Design at the university in Tehran. After university I started more ceramic work, and also pottery, and began teaching ceramics as a full time job.  

'blossom' bowl . . . inspired by native Iranian flowers (sold)
 

do you approach your making or glazing in a specific way?

I throw the tableware on the wheel then deform and shape them while each piece is drying. I don’t use moulds or templates - I improvise the shapes. For the glazes, I do some tests to see how the different glazes will react, and how they will look next to each other - I keep this in mind when I start glazing. Then I just pick up the brush and paint whatever comes to mind with each piece. 

what's the most exciting thing to happen so far in your creative career?

when I found a new home for my camouflage sculpture!

is there anything you hope your artwork gives to people or the world?

With my sculptures, I try to get people thinking about things happening around them. With my tableware, I want to bring a little colour and happiness into their everyday life.

is there anyone or anything that inspires you or your work?

my work is inspired by everything around me . . . everyday things I see in the streets, music I listen to, the news I read, or a new artwork that catches my eye.

what do you love most about Australia?

I haven't seen a lot of places in Australia yet, but I love Melbourne because it’s a calm city . . . and I really enjoy hearing the birds sing, the smell of eucalyptus trees and to see so many colours in nature.

Visit Elnaz's store page to find the collection of her work 

You can read more about Elnaz on The Design Files interview by Lisa Marie Corso! 

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Emma Kidd of Benconservato

You don't often think of a giraffe with wings, or see a cat playing on the back of a winged horse,
but when you first see these magical paper-creatures you might wish they were real!
When I first laid eyes upon the work of Benconservato, a few years ago, 
I knew I would one day carry her beautiful winged creatures in my (future) store. 

Emma Kidd is the artist behind Benconservato
& the maker of the shimmery-winged Thylacines & Dugongs above . . .
an Australian-fauna collaboration between two Emmas!

Read on for a belated interview post about Emma & her creative life! 
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Tell us about your art background

My background / studies are Associate Diploma at TAFE (printmaking and photography). I was a bad student in the last two years of school and although I was funny about going to TAFE, I am sure it actually suited me. 

I then went to Italy to study multi-plate etching . . . that lead to me going back for years every Summer to do photographic etching, which was the perfect medium for how I liked to create my work. After that all I can really say is I travelled and studied a bit and got myself into trouble in different ways.

handmade from beginning to end - each creature is drawn, cut & painted by hand . . . 
all are signed & numbered by Emma
 

how did your winged creatures first come about?

Strangely, when I decided I liked the idea of kind of not knowing what they were going to look like, apart from the beginning . . . apart from a vague idea of what I wanted. The winged horses came about after I made a Pegasus for someone and was then asked to make a display for a pop-up I was involved with for Melbourne Cup. It escalated from there!

what is the one medium you can't live without?

I love gouache. I don't use it very often the way you were taught in commercial art class, all thick and flat, but I like that it can do that if you want it to.

'mythical monsters' - gouache on cotton rag
(Emma's illustrations are available on her website) 
 

what's the most exciting thing to happen so far in your creative career?

So many things are exciting in different ways. It is hard to pin point it. I am happy where I seem to be heading.

is there anything you hope that your artwork gives to people or the world?

I like to think that it gives people a little boost of imaginary or creativity in their lives.

what do you love most about Australia?

I am biased about Australia as it is where I am from. I travelled here first, for two months, and saw such beautiful places and learnt new things . . . yet only scratched the surface. It has amazing flora and fauna, past and present.

Watch this space for more winged native-fauna collaborations!
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Susan Simonini

ceramic artist Susan Simonini 
was the first maker to join falling for florin

Susan's organic hand-built tumblers have become a store staple!

the majority of Susan's pieces are hand-formed with textured-stoneware . . .
imperfectly beautiful with their non-uniform shape. 

the pre-fired clay (left) reveals the trace of fingertips on Susan's hand-built pieces 

Susan has a fine-arts background & spent over a decade painting & printmaking - skills which lend themselves beautifully to her current medium. In the two short years that Susan has been working with clay, she has definitely made an impression on the Australian-ceramics landscape. 

I recently had a little chat with Susan about her work. 

I asked Susan about her process . . .

I prefer to approach my studio with an artist's eye, allowing each piece to evolve organically. I allow this process to determine the end product, whether it be a piece of art or a functional object. In many of my ceramic pieces you'll find slight imperfections & marks left by the handmade process. These contribute to the uniqueness & beauty of the forms & are simply part of the character of the individual piece.

Susan hand-builds the majority of her work, preferring coil/slab/pinch techniques, but she doesn't confine her work to just one style.   

Each individual form & each type of clay lends itself to different surface treatments, so some pieces are simply glazed & others become highly decorated with my art. 

Potter or ceramicist?

I prefer to be called a ceramic artist. Although I hold a fine art degree I have never undertaken studies in ceramics so would not consider myself a pure ceramicist or potter. I guess I am primarily an artist working in the medium of ceramics. 

What inspires you?

I am inspired by the everyday and the ordinary - colours and forms that we see all the time, but don't often pay much attention to. Also, all things art & the local coastal landscape.

What do you love most about Australia?

The freedom we have as a nation, & on an individual level, is what I love most about this country.

Susan works from her home-studio on the south Queensland coast. Between kiln-firings she jumps on her long-board & goes for a skate along the beach . . . sounds like the life to me! 

Would you like to hear more from Susan herself? Go & make yourself a pot of tea, get comfy & have a listen to the podcast interview with Paul Blais over at The Potters Cast. It's always lovely to hear from the artist in person! 

you can find a collection of Susan's ceramics
in the online store

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another drop of bling

more, more, more - back in stock !

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