The Ceramic Renaissance: clay and contemporary culture
Art & Photography

Clare Twomey’s installation ‘Is it Madness.  Is it Beauty.’, commissioned for the Siobhan Davies Studios in 2010, was a performance piece that centred around the continual re-filling of a number of clay bowls with water.  As the bowls were unfired, they gradually collapsed. Slowly folding in, the crumpled pottery questioned the elusive and indeterminate standards of perfection that artists both uphold and are held accountable to.  In this porous, furrowed form, the bowls also became functionally useless, a protest against ceramic’s association with practicality.

This close connection with function has often been attributed to the reluctance to hold ceramics in the same esteem as other fine art forms.  Continually expected to prove itself, pottery is scrupulously examined with the tired art/craft divide.  In recent years, however, ceramics have resurged, firmly securing their place in galleries, institutions and even the public eye, as the popularity of pottery classes soar and initiatives such as the Loewe Craft Prize are created.  This revival was consolidated in 2017 by Phaidon’s release of Vitamin C, a timely survey of the top one hundred ceramic artists, as chosen by leading curators and critics.

It feels obvious that the incessant digitalisation of our culture and daily life has motivated this shared craving to make, to squidge and shape the cool clay between our hands.  Over-saturation of digital information, political upheaval and the rise of ‘post-truth’ all have left us seasick on a ground that shifts and ruptures beneath our feet.  Emma Hart, a London-based artist, describes the haptic straightforwardness of plastic art as a medium that offers a tangible and comprehendible form of expression: ‘Clay allows me to put immediate feelings on its surface. I can stroke it, scratch it, punch it, kick it, bite it.’  Clay, an unapologetically material medium, can be understood as it is held and touched.

“‘Clay allows me to put immediate feelings on its surface. I can stroke it, scratch it, punch it, kick it, bite it.’ ”

Equally, however, clay is a notoriously temperamental material.  Created by alchemy as erratic as it is ancient, clay is unforgivingly mutable.  Yet its fractures, bubbles and folds offer as powerful an expressive potential as their silky alternative.  Ekaterina Bashenova-Yamasaki, in her collection of YEKATE vases available on our Life Store, embraces the multifarious nature of ceramics in her ‘deflated’ and ‘folded’ sculptures.  Created from moulds of punctured balloons, the organic creases and rumples lend the clay the appearance of draped fabric.  Her ‘Spilt Ink Plate’ similarly plays off something usually considered to be a mistake, stretching the possibilities of clay and our perception of it.

 

This re-interpretation of the precariousness of ceramics, harnessing its volatility as a creative force, is an illuminating move.  Ceramics foster a willingness to adapt: a lesson that moves far beyond the art realm, perhaps providing an explanation as to why ceramics seem so in tune with the current moment.

Annotated Design Projects

Select an Education Collaboration

United Kingdom

Europe

Hong Kong

Rest of the World

Annotated Design Projects

Select an Education Collaboration

United Kingdom

Europe

Hong Kong

Rest of the World

Annotated Design Projects

Select an Education Collaboration

Rest of the World

The Story of Annotated’s Education Collaboration 

Originally created by three friends at the University of Oxford looking for a different, but elegant way to celebrate and cherish their undergraduate memories,

This project goes back to the beginnings of the small design studio that preceded our company.

Since those earliest days, Annotated has stood for the idea that, by making things well, we could imbue our products with a sense of soul. You can feel it the moment you touch one of our Signet rings.

And being the children of university lecturers and teachers it was natural for us to combine this with the notion of celebrating education and studying for its own sake.

Over the years, the Annotated graduation ring has become our definition of one-of-a-kind and bespoke: completely made-to-order in collaboration with its owner and crafted by hand from precious metals.

Whether a graduand is someone who typically is interested in fine jewellery or not.

Please note, custom-made items cannot be returned but can be cancelled within seven days of order confirmation when production is still at an early stage.


Select country

Please select the country where your order will be shipped to. This will give you the correct pricing, delivery times and shipping costs for your destination.

Select Country
  • Afghanistan
  • Åland Islands
  • Albania
  • Algeria
  • American Samoa
  • Andorra
  • Angola
  • Anguilla
  • Antarctica
  • Antigua & Barbuda
  • Argentina
  • Armenia
  • Aruba
  • Australia
  • Austria
  • Azerbaijan
  • Bahamas
  • Bahrain
  • Bangladesh
  • Barbados
  • Belarus
  • Belgium
  • Belize
  • Benin
  • Bermuda
  • Bhutan
  • Bolivia
  • Bosnia & Herzegovina
  • Botswana
  • Bouvet Island
  • Brazil
  • British Indian Ocean Territory
  • British Virgin Islands
  • Brunei
  • Bulgaria
  • Burkina Faso
  • Burundi
  • Cambodia
  • Cameroon
  • Canada
  • Cape Verde
  • Cayman Islands
  • Central African Republic
  • Chad
  • Chile
  • China
  • Christmas Island
  • Cocos (Keeling) Islands
  • Colombia
  • Comoros
  • Congo - Brazzaville
  • Congo - Kinshasa
  • Cook Islands
  • Costa Rica
  • Côte d’Ivoire
  • Croatia
  • Cuba
  • Cyprus
  • Czechia
  • Denmark
  • Djibouti
  • Dominica
  • Dominican Republic
  • Ecuador
  • Egypt
  • El Salvador
  • Equatorial Guinea
  • Eritrea
  • Estonia
  • Eswatini
  • Ethiopia
  • Falkland Islands
  • Faroe Islands
  • Fiji
  • Finland
  • France
  • French Guiana
  • French Polynesia
  • French Southern Territories
  • Gabon
  • Gambia
  • Georgia
  • Germany
  • Ghana
  • Gibraltar
  • Greece
  • Greenland
  • Grenada
  • Guadeloupe
  • Guam
  • Guatemala
  • Guernsey
  • Guinea
  • Guinea-Bissau
  • Guyana
  • Haiti
  • Heard & McDonald Islands
  • Honduras
  • Hong Kong SAR China
  • Hungary
  • Iceland
  • India
  • Indonesia
  • Iran
  • Iraq
  • Ireland
  • Isle of Man
  • Israel
  • Italy
  • Jamaica
  • Japan
  • Jersey
  • Jordan
  • Kazakhstan
  • Kenya
  • Kiribati
  • Kuwait
  • Kyrgyzstan
  • Laos
  • Latvia
  • Lebanon
  • Lesotho
  • Liberia
  • Libya
  • Liechtenstein
  • Lithuania
  • Luxembourg
  • Macao SAR China
  • Madagascar
  • Malawi
  • Malaysia
  • Maldives
  • Mali
  • Malta
  • Marshall Islands
  • Martinique
  • Mauritania
  • Mauritius
  • Mayotte
  • Mexico
  • Micronesia
  • Moldova
  • Monaco
  • Mongolia
  • Montenegro
  • Montserrat
  • Morocco
  • Mozambique
  • Myanmar (Burma)
  • Namibia
  • Nauru
  • Nepal
  • Netherlands
  • New Caledonia
  • New Zealand
  • Nicaragua
  • Niger
  • Nigeria
  • Niue
  • Norfolk Island
  • Northern Mariana Islands
  • North Korea
  • North Macedonia
  • Norway
  • Oman
  • Pakistan
  • Palau
  • Palestinian Territories
  • Panama
  • Papua New Guinea
  • Paraguay
  • Peru
  • Philippines
  • Pitcairn Islands
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Qatar
  • Réunion
  • Romania
  • Russia
  • Rwanda
  • Samoa
  • San Marino
  • São Tomé & Príncipe
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Senegal
  • Serbia
  • Seychelles
  • Sierra Leone
  • Singapore
  • Slovakia
  • Slovenia
  • Solomon Islands
  • Somalia
  • South Africa
  • South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands
  • South Korea
  • Spain
  • Sri Lanka
  • St. Barthélemy
  • St. Helena
  • St. Kitts & Nevis
  • St. Lucia
  • St. Martin
  • St. Pierre & Miquelon
  • St. Vincent & Grenadines
  • Sudan
  • Suriname
  • Svalbard & Jan Mayen
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • Syria
  • Taiwan
  • Tajikistan
  • Tanzania
  • Thailand
  • Timor-Leste
  • Togo
  • Tokelau
  • Tonga
  • Trinidad & Tobago
  • Tunisia
  • Turkey
  • Turkmenistan
  • Turks & Caicos Islands
  • Tuvalu
  • Uganda
  • Ukraine
  • United Arab Emirates
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
  • Uruguay
  • U.S. Outlying Islands
  • U.S. Virgin Islands
  • Uzbekistan
  • Vanuatu
  • Vatican City
  • Venezuela
  • Vietnam
  • Wallis & Futuna
  • Western Sahara
  • Yemen
  • Zambia
  • Zimbabwe

Order billed in: Pounds Sterling £

Order despatched from: United Kingdom

Order billed in: Euro €

Order despatched from: United Kingdom

Order billed in: United States Dollars $

Order despatched from: United Kingdom