The Search for Form: Raised Vessels and Ritual

Over the past couple of months, my practice has become increasingly focused on the idea of the raised vessel. This direction has grown from my interest in the Japanese concept of ichi-go ichi-e—the understanding that every meeting with family and friends is unique, precious, and should be treasured. Although we gather repeatedly with the people we love, each occasion can never be recreated in exactly the same way. This philosophy has become an important influence on both my thinking and my making.

For me, ceramics play a significant role in these shared moments. The repeated use of familiar vessels during meals, celebrations, and quiet conversations creates its own ritual, marking the passage of time and strengthening our connections with one another. The raised vessel feels particularly symbolic in this context. Elevated from the table, it possesses an almost ceremonial presence, inviting attention and suggesting celebration, generosity and togetherness.

Throughout this journey I have deliberately explored a wide range of making techniques in an effort to discover the most appropriate form and surface for expressing these ideas. I have worked through thrown forms, coil-built structures, slab-built vessels and forms made using moulds and formers, allowing each process to influence the final outcome in different ways. Each technique has offered its own possibilities, challenging my understanding of proportion, balance and construction while helping me refine my ideas.

Alongside developing the forms themselves, I have experimented extensively with surface decoration. My investigations have included slips, oxides, and glazes mixed from tested recipes, each producing distinctive qualities and responses during firing. I have also explored block printing, mono printing, hand painting and resist techniques, layering decoration to create surfaces that echo the themes of repetition, memory and ritual. Using a variety of clay bodies has further informed my practice, revealing how different materials affect both the physical presence of the vessel and the finished surface.

Despite this breadth of experimentation, I continue to struggle with finding the right form to express the concepts that underpin the work. I have researched historical and contemporary vessels, filled sketchbooks with drawings, and produced numerous prototypes, but none has yet captured the balance I am searching for.

I want the finished vessel to feel timeless—one that quietly conveys ideas of eternity, ritual, repeated actions and loyalty. It should possess a sense of permanence while remaining functional, encouraging use and interaction rather than existing purely as an object to be observed. Achieving that balance between symbolism and practicality has proved more challenging than I anticipated, but it has also become one of the most rewarding aspects of the project.

For now, the search continues. Rather than viewing this uncertainty as a frustration, I recognise it as an essential part of the creative process. Every sketch, test piece, firing and experiment brings me closer to discovering a form that truly reflects the values at the heart of my practice: connection, ritual and the preciousness of shared moments. While I have yet to arrive at the final form, I feel that each stage of exploration is refining both my technical skills and my understanding of what I want these raised vessels to communicate.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

•