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.
Entitled ’Centre’, the collection of wheel-thrown crockery includes bowls, jugs and egg-cups in chalky hues of milky coffee and darker chocolate
The earthy range keeps will in line with Simple Shape’s existing minimalist design aesthetic
Smart’s creative process – in wheel-thrown and fired organic clay – creates delicately raw silhouettes that naturally differ from one another
Simple Shape was launched last year by Helen Osgerby as a platform for British and Irish designer-makers
‘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,’ Osgerby muses
INFORMATION
’Centre’ from £18. For more information, visit the Simple Shapes website (opens in new tab)
Photography: Yeshen Venema
-
Bosco Sodi’s monumental new Mexico City studio is a multifunctional featAs Bosco Sodi unveils his new Studio CMDX in Atlampa, Mexico City, we speak to the artist about how the vast Alberto Kalach-designed former warehouse is a feat in multitasking
-
Saltviga House is an architectural celebration of leftovers
Saltviga House by Kolman Boye Architects ingeniously uses offcuts from Dinesen planks to create a timber retreat on the south coast of Norway
-
Paola Navone turns her souvenirs into lottery prizes
Lottery now open: ‘Take It Or Leave It’ – by Paola Navone and The Slowdown with Daniel Rozensztroch – sees the Italian designer offer her souvenirs to the design community in Milan
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
Carpenters Workshop Gallery announces Ladbroke Hall opening in 2023
The new west London location will include gallery space as well as a restaurant, hidden garden and events spaces
-
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
-
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)
-
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
-
In memoriam: Sir Terence Conran (1931-2020)
Sir Terence Conran will be remembered for countless commercial achievements, but most impressively of all, for possessing a clear and compelling vision for the future of design, retail and hospitality
