Hans Coper and the Sculptural Vessel

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Hans Coper (1920–1981), working alongside Lucie Rie, developed a sculptural language of the vessel that feels especially relevant to my own exploration of form, surface, and ritual. I am especially interested in his raised vessels — often built through a combination of wheel-throwing and hand-altering — which transform the idea of the pot into something closer to a held presence, a pausing of time.

Coper’s process of throwing, cutting, joining, and reworking stoneware clay resonates with my current shift towards more hand-building and the acceptance of making as an evolving, responsive process. His use of strong stoneware bodies allowed for this physical intervention, where balance and tension are held within the structure itself. This is something I hope to explore through goblet forms and raised vessels, where the stem and base are not just functional supports, but a critical part of the physical and visual rhythm.

His surfaces are deliberately restrained, created through slips, oxides, and firing processes that allow the surface to reinforce and compliment the form rather than dominate. I need to consider this carefully with my own surface decoration, my own use of monoprinting, mark-making, and sea grass impressions needs to become a subtle record of environment, touch, and repetition and I must not let it become overly complicated and confused.

In relation to my interest in ritual, Coper’s vessels can be understood as objects of pause and attention. They sit between function and sculpture, inviting a slower way of looking and engaging. This aligns with my focus on repeated gestures, shared use, and the idea that ceramic objects can carry continuity across time — much like the cyclical, coastal rhythms that underpin my work and the idea of Ichi-go Ichi-e, where each encounter is both fleeting and meaningful.