RECENT COMMISSIONS
If you would like to know more about commissioning work from me please see the information here
Vessels commissioned by Ollie Dabbous for Hide, Mayfair (Photo: Sam Marks)
Most years, a significant portion of my time is spent working on commissioned projects, often for restaurants, also sometimes for private clients and individuals.
In recent years I have worked on projects for Hide, Mirazur, Mandarin Oriental and Fork & Blade Group, amongst others.
HIDE
Hide is a Michelin-starred, modern European restaurant in Mayfair, opened by Hedonism Wines with chef Ollie Dabbous. I met with Ollie and the design team long in advance of the opening to discuss creating a bespoke vessel range for them. It was wonderful to have a good span of time for the project, particularly as the designs I worked on required new clay mixes, new glaze recipes, and some iteration to land on the ideal size, form and curve-profile of the vessels.
I created 3 bespoke pieces for Hide - a large flat bowl form in cream tones, with my signature ‘eggshell’ overhang, which they regularly use for main dishes; a smaller form in brown tones, close to a broken sphere, in which the chefs beautifully present starters and deserts; and a small, more ‘open’ cream form which is placed on every table with a candle in, and also used by the bar for bits and pieces.
Hide was the first restaurant client that I made ragged edge vessels for. In order to ensure that the pieces functioned effectively in a restaurant environment I adapted the design in various ways - including making the edges a little thicker than I usually did, so that they would be more robust and better withstand regular handling and use.
Five years in and the pieces are in constant use. The restaurant were keen to expand their collection and I continue to make new pieces for them. At Ollie’s request I also created a series of vessels for his Chelsea Barracks Kitchen Pop-Up at the Chelsea Flower Show.
MIRAZUR
Mirazur is a restaurant on the French Riviera, just above Monte Carlo, currently holding 3 Michelin stars. It is run by Argentine chef Mauro Colagreco and in 2019 climbed to the No 1. ranking of Best Restaurants in the World.
The team at Mirazur first contacted me during the 2020 Covid lockdown. We had a delightful and hilarious zoom meeting, talking a little about restaurants and tableware but diverging wildly into planetary movements, biodynamic farming, ancient pottery styles and the many subjects and ideas that inform both of our creative practices. It turned out we had a lot of common ground.
I was thrilled to design two entirely new pieces for them, one of which was destined exclusively for a new private dining area they were designing. One of the pieces was an almost-sphere, constructed in rich black clay, with a ‘ridgeline’ tracking below the ragged edge of the vessel. Mirazur is perched on the edge of the mountains in Menton, and this piece echoes the geography of their location.
The second piece I designed for them (pictured above) was a development of a previous project, with a layered outer texture reminiscent of petals, or feathers. These intricate pieces are time-consuming to build, as the placement of each ‘petal’ is considered and carefully smoothed in. These have become possibly my favourite vessels to make!
MANDARIN ORIENTAL
The newest outpost of the luxury hotel group Mandarin Oriental opened in West London in 2023. I was contacted by their design team to build 50 unique vessels for the space.
From multiple options, we settled upon a warm, sandy clay, with a glossy white glaze. Like all of my ragged edge vessels, the glaze sits on the inside only, with the raw fired clay exterior creating an earthy, textured contrast.
This clay and glaze combination results in a ‘toasted’ effect at the edge where they meet, a result of the iron-rich clay reacting with the tin in the glaze.
We agreed on a low, open bowl form, with a craggy and exaggerated ragged edge - both functional and sculptural.
