DesignLab: Ceramics

DesignLab: Ceramics Project
V&A Ceramics Resident: Louisa Taylor
Arden Academy

Year 9 students from Arden Academy took part in this one day project with V&A ceramic artist in residence Louisa Taylor. Louisa is interested in unique and future functionality and uses ideas from objects in the V&A’s collections to reappropriate or re invent contemporary tableware. Following this practise Louisa set the school several inventors challenges which were sent out to them on postcards before they visited, these included ‘How could you serve, tea without using a tea pot?’ and ‘How could your dish tell you what you were having for dinner?’ students then brainstormed initial ideas together before visiting the museum.

On the day the students met Louisa and learnt about her practise as a ceramic artist, they found out about her work, looked around her studio and discovered which objects she has been using as inspiration from the collections and why. Following this, students then had a handling session with a V&A museum educator to explore and handle interesting and obsolete examples of tableware from the Victorian period. These included a cup with a moustache guard among others.

Finally in the afternoon, Louisa modelled simple techniques and starting points using clay to begin creating their own tableware, students had to bear in mind their inventors challenges and think about how best to solve them creatively. Louisa demonstrated, slabbing, coiling and creating pinch pots and suggested a mixture of these techniques to create their final pieces. The students produced an array of interesting objects including a pot with a built in straw devise with which you could suck up spaghetti. Louisa fired the final pieces and the students completed the glazing and final firing back at their school.