ABOUT MID-CENTURY MENDING

This is a four-piece collaboration with Maisie Utting. We decided to turn our shared love of mid-century mantle vases ( and make do and mend mentality ) into a small collaborative collection. Maisie sent me four damaged but gorgeous mid-century ceramic vases, and I set about piecing them back together and decorating them with gold-tone lacquer. You can read more about it here.

I loved working with these pieces. The process of transformative repair - in this case, a variation on kintsugi - means getting to know each piece intimately. I feel that mending broken ceramics deserves the same level of care and attention as went into their creation, and the fact that they have been treasured for up to 70 years makes them even more precious to me.

ABOUT THESE PIECES

Maisie: "These pieces came to me from the same owner, but sadly arrived broken. Although these were not particularly rare at the time they were made, I am attached to their history. After all, their previous owner picked, kept and valued these pieces for decades. That's what makes them precious to me. I remember feeling really disheartened: not because I couldn't sell them, but because they had already been in existence for such a long time."

The SylvaC hyacinth vase arrived in quite a few pieces, and was a bit of a puzzle to put together. I love how the gold-coloured cracks now enhance the design of the vase: the way it seems to trickle down the leaves gives it a real lusciously liquid quality.

The Darthmouth cornucopia vase symbolises the mythical 'horn of plenty': a goat horn filled with an abundance of flowers, fruit and corn to celebrate a bountiful harvest. I remade part of the missing chip at the base before decorating it with gold-tone lacquer.

ABOUT TRANSFORMATIVE REPAIR

Kintsugi is the Japanese art of mending ceramics with gold, highlighting the cracks to celebrate the beauty in the broken. The gold lines are proud traces of the symbolic process of repair, resulting in a more resilient and beautiful piece that is worth treasuring. You can read more about it here.

ABOUT MAISIE UTTING

Maisie Utting is a collector of antique and vintage ceramics, homeware and textiles. She kindly shares some of her amazing finds through her online store.

ABOUT STUDIO JAN.NE.KE

London-based Studio Janneke creates small collections of feel-good ceramics, with a focus on handmade items, one-offs and limited runs.

DETAILS

Material // vintage ceramic, gold-tone lacquer (NOT GENUINE GOLD), partly reglazed
Size // approx. 17 - 22 cm (7” - 9”)

PLEASE NOTE: THESE CERAMICS ARE NOT WATERPROOF

SHIPPING

As these are one-offs, Royal Mail Tracked 48 UK shipping is included in the price.
International shipping available.