Clay creations: Simple Shape collaborates with Jono Smart for new collection
Last year marked the launch of Simple Shape; a new e-commerce site celebrating British and Irish designer-makers. One year on, founder Helen Osgerby is taking the next step in making Simple Shape a platform for unique craft with the launch of its first design collaboration, with an up-and-coming ceramicist.
Keeping in line with Simple Shape's existing minimalist design aesthetic, they have invited potter Jono Smart to create tableware collection ‘Centre’. Together with input from Osgerby, the Berkshire-based designer has conceived a selection of wheel-thrown crockery including bowls, jugs and egg-cups (a tribute to the forthcoming Easter holiday) in chalky hues of milky coffee and darker chocolate.
‘I want to make things that are allowed to change over time,’ explains Smart. ‘I want the pieces I make to have character: to age, to feel human, not too precise, pristine or mechanical.’
Smart originally set out as a garden designer before finding himself inspired to start making pottery just a year ago. His creative process – wheel-thrown and fired organic clay – creates delicately raw silhouettes that naturally differ from one another. The stackable, stark collection is multipurpose; for example the jugs can also be used as vases.
'Centre' is a special, personable collection. Osgerby describes the results as ‘utility pieces with a raw beauty that carry the marks and traces of Jono’s hands’. When asked if this is the first of many exclusive collections to come, she is positive. 'Working in a relaxed, collaborative way with the best of the UK’s designers is certainly something Simple Shape would like to do more of,’ she muses. Watch this space.
INFORMATION
’Centre’ from £18. For more information, visit the Simple Shapes website
Photography: Yeshen Venema
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
Sujata Burman is a writer and editor based in London, specialising in design and culture. She was Digital Design Editor at Wallpaper* before moving to her current role of Head of Content at London Design Festival and London Design Biennale where she is expanding the content offering of the showcases. Over the past decade, Sujata has written for global design and culture publications, and has been a speaker, moderator and judge for institutions and brands including RIBA, D&AD, Design Museum and Design Miami/. In 2019, she co-authored her first book, An Opinionated Guide to London Architecture, published by Hoxton Mini Press, which was driven by her aim to make the fields of design and architecture accessible to wider audiences.
-
Artist Mickalene Thomas wrestles with notions of Black beauty, female empowerment and love
'Mickalene Thomas: All About Love’, a touring exhibition, considers Black female representation
By Hannah Silver Published
-
New Phaidon book celebrates the world's best designers
Designed for Life: The World’s Best Product Designers by Phaidon celebrates the rich contemporary landscape of product design
By Tianna Williams Published
-
The moments fashion met art at the 60th Venice Biennale
The best fashion moments at the 2024 Venice Biennale, with happenings from Dior, Golden Goose, Balenciaga, Burberry and more
By Jack Moss Published
-
RH takes over historical Aynho Park, UK
Aynho Park becomes American furniture brand RH’s first destination outside the US, a new venture that merges architectural history and hospitality
By Henrietta Thompson Published
-
Chatsworth House design exhibition explores contemporary design themes in an eclectic setting
‘Mirror Mirror: Reflections on Design at Chatsworth House’ (18 March – 1 October 2023) offers a novel point of view on the house's interiors and contemporary design, through a series of works by some of today’s most celebrated designers
By Rosa Bertoli Published
-
Brexit and the design industry: ‘It’s hampering creativity’
Three years after Brexit, we asked designers, design entrepreneurs and representatives of British design organisations how the withdrawal from the European Union has affected the design industry
By Rosa Bertoli Published
-
PAD London celebrates the past and present of collectible design
PAD London (until 16 October 2022) returns for a new edition presenting historical and collectible design
By Rosa Bertoli Last updated
-
Carpenters Workshop Gallery opens in Ladbroke Hall
The new west London location includes gallery space as well as a restaurant, a hidden garden and events spaces, and makes its debut with displays of works by David Adjaye and Jose Zanine Caldas
By Rosa Bertoli Last updated
-
Made in London dives into the city’s rich collection of 21st-century factories
Made in London is a photographic journey through the capital’s surprisingly rich and diverse manufacturing scene, capturing everything from aircraft interiors to cardboard boxes, and everything in between
By Jonathan Bell Last updated
-
Park benches in unexpected materials nod to Scottish landscape
Five designers breathe new life into the traditional park bench as part of a project with Design Exhibition Scotland (until 15 October 2022)
By Hannah Silver Last updated
-
London’s iconic Tube map design grows two new stations
As the London Tube map grows to include two brand new stations, we speak to the designer safeguarding its famous design codes
By Hannah Silver Last updated