Ceramics and Objects at Everyday Needs Store
It’s not often that I come across shops or creatives in New Zealand, we’ve swayed towards Japan in recent months but there are also some fantastic things going on in other parts of the world. Particularly that side near Australia is where I’m seeing lots of creative communities pop-up and exhibit exciting work, this store that I’ve know about for a while named Everyday Needs is a great stockist of functional objects.
As you probably know already I’m a bit of a sucker for functional items that are very ‘normal’, or ‘supernormal’ as Jasper and Naoto would like to say. These objects always get me excited when I see the clever and original methods used for such simple tasks, actually it adds simplicity to the task itself, which is not an easy thing to do believe me. To strip down all the necessary elements and work out what isn’t needed vs what is needed. So Everyday Needs store is pretty much the perfect compliment to this ideology, and it’s also nice to see that they’ve been stocking some local craftsman and people who’re lesser known to the world.
Take for example these pots by New Zealand ceramic artist Stephen Bradbourne, who has individually thrown each piece so they’re all slightly different from one another. You can see one cup a few pictures down and the bowls closer to the bottom of this post, they’re very intriguing and remind me of Matthias Kaiser who we’re currently representing in our shop. Another piece that looks supremely handy and well made is the copper tea strainer by Yoshio Tsuji (featured in the above photo), a specialist in wire craft who learnt his skill from his father. It looks beautifully precise and intricate, made out of his studio in Kyoto, Japan.
At the end of the day I feel like this small shop is challenging the normal buying process, it makes you get in touch with the handmade nature of these and also makes you think about the amount of work that must of gone into each object. Hopefully you’ll appreciate this aspect too. Scroll up and down to see some of my favourite pieces from the store itself.