Blueware Vases by Glithero

I’m doing the unthinkable today by returning to the same creative who’s work we showcased yesterday, but before we get inundated with complaints I better mention he’s a filmmaker highlighting some really inspiring makers and shakers. Yesterday Petr Krejci introduced us all to the Czech collective that is Vyroben Olesem and today I thought we’d take a look at another collaborative project in his portfolio, London based designers Tim Simpson and Sarah van Gameren who work under the alias of Gilthero. This dynamic duo met whilst studying at the Royal College of Art and now design products, furniture, and time based installations from their own studio, basically they’re always taking on new mediums and materials to see where their experiments will land them.

One experiment of theirs that particularly stuck a chord with me was this playful decoration they created on hand thrown vases by casting silhouettes of plants via a spray gun I initially believed. It was only reading the description afterwards that I realised these shapes were actually cast by applying light sensitive chemicals to the vessels and then exposing them to ultra violet light. I’ve been playing with glazes myself in the last few weeks so I was surprised to learn of this technique, I thought they’d used a spray booth. Good for them for thinking outside the box though, It’s great to see age old techniques being brought to the table and the resulting decor is quite striking, something I’m eager to try myself.

If like me you to are intrigued by this process and want to learn more I’d recommend a search of “Cyanotypes” where you see more examples of what can be achieved. This originates as one of the earliest principles of photography and has an historic affinity between ceramics and the colour blue, a project built upon the inventions of Anglo-Dutch predecessors. I’m sure lots of you are eager to click off and see what else you can find so I won’t keep you too much longer, all I will say is Tim and Sarah at Gilthero are well worth keeping your eye on for a bit of inspiration, who knows what they will create next.

www.glithero.com

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