Eccentric ceramic designs from 2023 that redefined the boundaries of ceramic artistry

Clay, as a versatile medium, becomes a conduit for storytelling and self-expression. Due to the material's malleability, artists and designers can shape narratives that speak of their experiences, cultural influences, and creative ambitions. Idiosyncratic ceramic designs serve as a mesmerising canvas for designers, artists, and sculptors to channel their innermost thoughts, emotions, and varied interests. Each distinctive creation captures not just technical proficiency but also a very personal relationship between the artist and the medium, expressing a range of feelings from joy to nostalgia, rebellion to calm. Under the expert hands of these artists, clay transcends its natural state to become a vehicle for human expression, luring spectators into a realm where creativity and material form collide, allowing for interpretation and interaction.

Ceramicists have recently undertaken a bold experiment, stretching the limits of conventional clay work to create genuinely unique and eccentric designs. By amalgamating diverse influences, from historical references to contemporary trends, these creators breathe life into their pieces, crafting unconventional narratives.

From the exploration of historicity and craftsmanship to emotionally charged fantasy pieces, STIR enlists idiosyncratic ceramic designs that redefine the boundaries of creativity and storytelling through their form, colour and design language.

1. Ceramicist Bari Ziperstein uses historicity and craftsmanship to create 'Fantasy Pieces'

Fantasy Pieces: Decorative Garments for the Home by American artist and ceramicist Bari Ziperstein is a collision of vibrant colour and profuse patterns, representing an alternate universe. The themes and motifs for it were conceived in 2022 from her ongoing archival research into Soviet Era aesthetics. Out of this research, the artist and designer shifted her focus to textile and artisan-manufactured objects from Vienna at the turn of the century, notably the work done by Josef Hoffmann and the Wiener Werkstätte (WW). Superimposing patterns and imagery from WW consumer catalogues onto handmade, embellished sculptures, vessels, and pedestals, the series examines the political and material cultures of turn-of-the-century Viennese Design through sculpture.

2. Into the low-resolution, 8-bit ceramic delights of Japanese artist Toshiya Masuda

Japanese artist Toshiya Masuda joyously intertwines the virtual world with the real one, by transforming everyday objects into pixellated ceramic sculptures resembling video game graphics from the 1980s, or computer images of very low resolution. By combining unexpected digital elements with tangible objects, Masuda's ceramic works attempt to make people reflect on and challenge their preconceptions about the potential of ceramic as a material medium. Ceramic blocks that have been chiselled to mimic stacks of bricks, gradually take on the appearance of commonplace objects, with their frequently hazy and indistinct aesthetics. Despite their seemingly ‘low-resolution’ appearance, Masuda's ceramic art has a variety of small-scale extrusions and delicate details that demand attention.

3. Yoshitomo Nara’s ‘Ceramic Works’ is a mastery of creativity and emotional depth

Yoshitomo Nara’s works have become a testament to the introspective freedom of the human mind. His art speaks volumes about how we can explore our inner world. At the heart of his creative vision lies his exploration of ceramics, a medium that has expanded the horizons of his creative vision. This collection introduces Nara’s signature childlike figures in a new light, such as ceramic heads and paintings on vessels. Their closed eyes and shut lips do not hinder the transmission of their emotionally charged messages. The artist’s ability to infuse profound emotions into these seemingly simple characters is a testament to the depth of his artistic expression.

4. Exploring Julie Bergeron’s tessellated stone sculptures

Canadian designer Julie Bergeron’s body of work at first glance reminds one of a porcupine's quilted coat. She creates sculpture art inspired by organic forms that mimic a wide array of creatures and lifeforms found in nature. A former graphic designer, she quickly transitioned to sculpting upon discovering the joy of modelling clay. She trained under the ceramicist Danielle Lescot in 2010 and continued the process of working and learning by practice. The Canadian sculptural artist's pieces are crafted using the coil technique, which involves shaping and stacking small amounts of clay on top of each other to build the walls of the sculpture, layer by layer. Although this process is slower than sculpting clay on a potter’s wheel, it allows the maker great freedom in determining the shape of the sculpture and the thickness of its walls. Bergeron, who exclusively builds stoneware objects, leaves her sculptures unglazed so that their minerality and texture can be perceived visually and discerned tactilely.

5. Noe Kuremoto’s modern ceramic artworks encounter ancient Japanese beliefs

The works of Japanese ceramic artist Noe Kuremoto lie succinctly at the juncture of childlike simplicity and contemporary sophistication. The Osaka -born designer, now based in London, crafts her sculptural art by hand, drawing inspiration from ancient Japanese figurines, conforming to the conventional Japanese belief that spirits can be encountered anywhere, especially in nature—for Kuremoto, the genuine essence of the cosmos can be found in the wild. The product designer’s work is a direct translation of her desire to form deeper connections in a world, which according to her, can often feel shallow. Kuremoto's signature piece is her interpretation of ancient talismans and figurines namely, Haniwa, Daruma, and Dogu—inviting the spirit of nature into people’s homes in the simplest forms possible.

6. Pani Jurek crafts wavy ceramic vases that embody the joyous language of painting

Straddling the border between fine arts , crafts and design, designer Magda Jurek creates applied art objects in an artisanal manner. The studio's oeuvre features compositions, majorly ceramic, that transcend conventional functions in pursuit of interaction. The latest collection by Pani Jurek is called Barva—ceramic vases unabashedly flaunting vibrant colours, wavy lines, contrasts, textures and subtle tonal transitions. A painting graduate, Jurek refrains from designing under a brief—she thinks of objects as signs, sculptures or installations, treating them as a canvas for building compositions. Colours, stains, textures and shapes yield abstract compositions and forms that morph into a medium of expression. The social projects and non-commercial initiatives that the designer engages in often become the trigger for the creation of useable product designs. With interactivity at the crux, these creations are designed in response to their surroundings as well as the people who use them. This is achieved while keeping in mind the functionality of the products—possibilities tamed by ergonomics and materials.

7. Lebanese ceramicist Nathalie Khayat's collection is inspired by the ocean

Picking up cues from the unfathomable depths of the ocean, Lebanese ceramicist Nathalie Khayat built a collection of functional objects. The SALT collection comprises a series of sculptural entities that can be viewed as both, decorative centrepieces as well as useable vases, bowls and candelabras. Khayat's ceramic works serve as a space for documenting her understanding of various natural phenomena and man-made occurrences. Fascinated by a variety of phenomena, both internal and physical, she studies germination and transplantation, as well as the acts of healing, surviving, loving and desiring. The result is a series of sculptural pieces that function as both ornamental art to utilitarian objects. SALT highlights the designer’s creative process, of examining the sculptural dimensions of functional objects – vases, candleholders and bowls - without assigning them a purpose. The ceramic collection evokes images of the ocean grounds and the unadulterated natural world.

8. ‘Janny Baek: The Pleasure of Growth' creates an ecosystem of infinite forms

Janny Baek: The Pleasure of Growth by artist and architect Janny Baek brings a new narrative and story of the alien, to the gallery. With a collection of ceramic functional vessels that appear less like objects and more like living beings and forms, frozen in time, Baek creates an imaginative universe of her own. While some might appear as coral-like objects from underwater, others might remind one of a unique plant indigenous to another planet. The textures, colours, gradients and techniques of Baek’s works come together to enthral the observer and create stories of their own.

9. Xanthe Somers’s large-scale sculptures explore Zimbabwean postcolonial culture

Xanthe Somers creates sizeable vessels that take on an allegorical meaning, revealing the political semantics of everyday objects. The looping shapes, bright colours and intricate craftsmanship develop a sense of play and a ‘happy’ aesthetic. A closer inspection of the text on the works and the titles—such as Like Stale Bread After a Hard Days Work or Don’t Do It with the recognisable sports brand logo—immediately urges the viewer into analytical thought. Incorporating traditional Zimbabwean crafts into her works, Somers uses pipe maize, golden lustre, fabric, and a hose pipe to create the loops, flowers and almost animated-looking accents of her dynamic sculptural designs.

10. Mia Karlova Galerie to present sculptures by five artists and designers at Collectible 2023 - Kartini Thomas

Kartini Thomas is a France -based, American ceramicist who spent most of her childhood travelling with her parents around the world and encountering mythical tales and legends along the way. Her ceramic sculptures, with their myriad shapes, colours and elements, resemble fantastical creatures from a land unknown. They are tangible objects communicating the dreams and ideas informed by her extensive travels. From childhood, Thomas travelled to places where people spoke languages unknown to her, and where there was much talk of myths and taboos. She felt different without understanding why. Her mythic positive and playful monsters are a way of proposing stories of alternative identities and origins in answer to questions of who we are and if we need to be alike or different.

All the creations invite viewers into a universe where emotions, recollections, and fantasies collide in tangible form while showcasing technical mastery and a personal connection between creator and medium. These ceramicists have blazed fresh paths with their unorthodox designs, pushing the frontiers of imagination and narrative in the field of clay and ceramic art and making a lasting impression on the expressive trajectory of modern artistry. Quirky ceramic inventions have an exciting prospect ahead of them, sitting at the nexus of artistic discovery, cultural change, and technological advancement. Form, texture, and utility can all be pushed to the limit by artists as a result of intriguing novel possibilities for experimentation presented by advances in materials science and manufacturing techniques. Additionally, a cross-pollination of ideas is anticipated to give rise to hitherto unheard-of aesthetics and narratives in ceramic arts as a result of the growing fusion of interdisciplinary influences from architecture to fashion and beyond. The future promises a rebirth of whimsical ceramic creations where the only bond is the creative imagination as long as they persist in defying expectations and embracing a range of viewpoints.

STIRred 2023 wraps up the year with compilations of the best in architecture, art, and design from STIR. Did your favourites make the list? Tell us in the comments!