Hasta La Ideas

UK designer Luke Twigger has created a range of skull-shaped containers with cushions for brains. (more…)

Milan 2010: Viennese designers Mischer’Traxler presented a collection of bowls cast from vegetables in Milan last month. (more…)

Inspired by the spectacle of matadors and bulls, potter Adam Silverman’s new works merge “beauty with ugliness, elegance and violence.” The artist, also the L.A. director of Heath ceramics, will display his gorgeously tortuous works in the upcoming show “Faena Nueva” at Heath’s L.A. studio.

Drawing on childhood memories of bullfights that his uncle took him to in Spain, Silverman combines the vivid hues of the sport’s unforms with a crackling glaze surface, suggesting the violent nature of the man-versus-beast event. After testing several colors and textures, he eventually came up with six new glaze bases to tell the story. One dramatic red vessel particularly articulates the concept, with a swirl of glaze echoing the movement of a matador’s cape.

With a focus less on function and more on investigative and experimental works, Silverman leads the way in custom and design-focused ceramics. Recently working with architect Nader Tehrani, the duo created “Boolean Valley,” a 400-piece site-specific installation comprised of cobalt blue clay objects based on the Boolean logic principle.

The colorful Faena Nueva exhibit runs from 10-25 April 2010 at Heath Ceramics, with an opening reception on 10 April from 6-9pm.

A Portland, OR-based company, Pigeon Toe Ceramics produces high-quality ceramic pieces for the home. Fine artist and former graphic designer Lisa Jones takes the homegrown, local aesthetic to heart, hand throwing each piece from clay sourced and manufactured in the city of Portland, and firing them in a kiln powered by solar and wind energy.

Jones’ Spring 2010 collection includes plant hangers, crockery and a series of pendant lights, all with Pigeon Toe’s trademark simple lines, unassuming colors and clean, luminous simplicity.

In addition to commissioned and pre-made wares, Jones also collaborates with local female artists to produce limited-edition edition runs of hand-painted pieces. Known as PTC+, the series includes work by Alyson Graves, Kelly Britton Andreini, and Alia Smith.

Items ordered from Jones shop are made to order and take three weeks to ship. For a selection of goods already made, check out the Pigeon Toe Ceramics’ Etsy shop.

Drawn with careful, scientific precision, Laura Zindel‘s insect imagery adds a creepy Victorian-era touch to her expertly-crafted ceramics. The highly detailed, all-black renderings of spiders on dinner plates and scarab beetle on saucers show her gifts for illustration and well-made tableware alike.

Incorporating an array of animals and plants, Luna moths, bees, tarantulas, dragonflies, ladybugs and birds all get her painstakingly loving treatment. Zindel’s taste for symmetry also lends refined complexity; on a large pasta bowl adorned with snakes, their mirrored curving bodies create a gorgeously ornate pattern.

Like the Harvard Museum of Natural History‘s collection of biologically exacting glass flower specimens, made with breathtaking detail, Zindel’s work makes the audience rethink both the subject and material.

Seattle shop Blackbird now carries Zindel’s work at their recently-opened The Field House (the general store of the 21st century). Zindel’s work can also sells from Blackbird’s online shop and a selection of prints reflecting her insect sensibilities are available from her site.