Taking a Fresh Look

I’ve recently started questioning my functional work. Once you can make a form successfully, it’s very easy to stop thinking about it and just default to ‘that shape you know how to make’. I’m taking a fresh look at everything and asking does it work well? Why did I choose that shape? What would make it be better?

Take butter dishes for example. My standard process is to make them a bit like an upside down pinch pot, about the size and shape of a stick of butter, and then refine and decorate them later.

In the process of making new work for the holidays I threw a couple of pieces I thought were garlic roasters. They are instead being used happily as small butter dishes. Round was never a shape I considered for a butter dish. I have been asked for smaller sized dishes so why not?

I also had a commission for a butter dish that was literally a covered oval dish, almost like a casserole. I thought this was a brilliant idea! You can scoop the butter out and never have to worry about it melting on a hot day and making a mess. The whole idea of a butter dish turned upside down!

Moving forward I plan to try more shapes. First a more tightly define and squared off shape and then throwing something that can work as a butter dish.

It’s so easy to duplicate the familiar but hopefully a little more thought and experimentation will lead to new and more exciting results!
Bowls are next on the list–sizes, shapes, usefulness…