PLUMES originated in the rhythms and sights of a rural life in West Somerset, England. 

Tableware is part of our everyday: mugs, plates, bowls are the vessels of our daily rituals, facilitating moments of comfort and of sharing, often the first items to be given and purchased when home-making. Pottery has been in our hearths and kitchens for millennia, so we chose the humble earthenware – one of the earliest forms of pottery – and refined it into creamware.

The commission arose from sketches I had been developing for an architectural project exploring the creative tension between exteriors and interiors, motion and stability, as metaphor for our journey through time. Feathers are both crazily clever feats of engineering, and highly emotionally evocative of home, travel and the beautiful elegance of nature’s forms. 

Collaborating with 1882 Ltd provided a wonderful opportunity to re-iterate and apply aesthetic principles of space, light and decorative design to a collection of everyday objects. We translated the narrative into a new scale and medium, in this instance fine earthenware expertly fashioned by five generations’ worth of Stoke-on-Trent skill.

Part of the creative challenge of this collection was the desire to combine pattern and form in a distinct but discreet way. To present beautiful, lovingly made crockery to enjoy in the mundane routines and in times of feasts and celebrations