Beloved Pots by Swedish Potter Stefan Andersson
Our good friend, and fellow maker in the store, Stefan Andersson recently unveiled his new catalogue from his upcoming solo exhibition at Blås & Knåda in Stockholm, Sweden. Running from the 16th of March to the 10th of April, he’ll be showcasing a new collection titled ‘Beloved Pots’ that’s based on the first ever pieces of stoneware, made 1500-3000 years ago, loosely inspired by work in and around China, Korea and Taiwan. Stefan feels this is of special interest to him because he feels that they were very important for the development of Swedish design in the first half of the 1900. In fact, it would be impossible to envision modernistic design as a whole without this ware.
As I’ve felt and handled Stefans work I know the quality and precision that goes in to each one, all are made using small careful steps, it’s very much a slow process to get these beautiful stripped down pots. At the end of the day this is Andersson experimenting with form within the boundaries of functional ware, and as always he’s done an amazing job. I remember showcasing his exhibition ‘Cups 2009 – 2012’ last year and it was a massive hit on the site, the amount of complex textures and great colours from the different firing conditions was inspiring to see. It just showed the variety of things you could do without straying away from the element of function.
So I’d highly recommend you have a browse through all of his new works on his catalogue PDF, which you can also download from the Stefan Andersson website. I tried my best to summarise the new collection and the feeling behind it all, hopefully you get the gist and if you’re in Stockholm you should definitely pop in the Blås & Knåda gallery to see the works in person. I’m positive they’ll be something special.