Field Pottery: Bringing A Wild, Unbridled Touch To Ceramics
A young Singapore studio puts an organic spin on the age-old craft.
The works of Singapore ceramic studio Field Pottery can seem like they're fossilised lost treasure hauled up from the sea bed, as well as being reminiscent of other marine denizens – one vessel reminded us of the oddly cute sunfish, for instance.
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Other works take on similarly organic silhouettes; think a bowl that comes with spindly little legs like an alien squid or vases that look like they're fashioned from bark, complete with "torn" edges, akin to a toppled tree.
The studio's works tend to take on wildly organic shapes, usually inspired by the natural environment.
Perhaps it comes as no surprise that Field Pottery co-founder Natalie Cheung Ai Wen has a background in building worlds. An architectural designer by day, the 29-year-old is of the opinion that architecture and pottery are similar in how they both involve multiple mediums, an understanding of past and current cultures, as well as the study of everyday habits and environments.
This series was inspired by forest hikes.
But where the two disciplines diverge may be down to the intention behind the work. "... Architecture (tends to be) rational, whereas pottery is more intuitive and forgiving in expressing how you feel in that moment of making," says Cheung.
Field Pottery was started by architectural designer Natalie Cheung Ai Wen (right) in 2020, before being joined subsequently by her partner Darren Cheng, who works in the social services sector. They currently run Field Pottery together.
That visceral quality clearly manifests in Field Pottery's works, which Cheung says are often inspired by natural processes such as the natural erosion of objects due to their surroundings and time.
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For instance, a body of work titled Deep Sea Dive re-imagines found objects recovered from maritime expeditions - the 12 bowls in this series are all deeply tactile, their surfaces moulded to look as if barnacles and other aquatic flora and fauna have colonised the otherwise smooth terrain.
A bowl from Field Pottery's Deep Sea Dive series, which builds a narrative of finding lost items from the sea bed.
This fascination with the natural world has long been a constant in Cheung's work. "This is what my master thesis project in architectural school was about too; the reign of wild nature. We think we can control nature but it's always unpredictable, unexpected and uncontrollable," says Cheung.
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Her respect for the natural world is such that it carries through right down to the production process at Field Pottery. Take how a bowl for the new food-meets-art private dining space Alter Native by chef Desmond Shen took inspiration from the very same dish it was commissioned to hold – uni (the edible parts of a sea urchin).
A commissioned bowl for the food-meets-art private dining space Alter Native.
The gravelly, mottled texture of the bowl was created through Cheung hand-pressing the spikes of a sea urchin shell (the unusable bits from Shen's dish) onto a body of clay – effectively creating a truly synergistic loop between the disciplines of gastronomy and ceramic-making.
Below, Cheung shares more of her creative process.
"Natural processes really inspire my work. Even being able to walk around my neighbourhood is exciting for me. To see the unexpected happen in cracks and old items exposed to the rain or sun. I am so intrigued by the idea of a perfectly human-made item and how it grows (or deteriorates) over time.
You can see these in the collections I make. The Deep Sea Dive series, for example, is a collection built around the narrative of a deep diver discovering a shipwreck underwater, with items from the past strewn on the seabed. 'Perfect', man-made vessels are forced to blend with nature through natural processes like erosion – when this process is 'done', what is nature and what is man-made?"
"This is my favourite part and I see it as a therapeutic process. Generally, I use everyday items like wire mesh, forks, knifes, combs etc. to create the textures on my pottery pieces. In the process of creation, I probably look like a mad woman.
(With the sea urchin bowl commissioned by chef Desmond Shen) I first made the bowl through a method called pinching. Pinching is a technique created by holding a clay ball in your hands and compressing and expanding clay with your thumbs slowly before it expands to form something.
To make the bowl, an urchin shell was pressed to form the texture of the bowl’s surface. I liked the idea that the bowl is a representation of the negative form of each unique shell given to me; no two pieces are alike and the essence of each piece is now fossilised within the body of this ceramic bowl."
"We enjoy multi-disciplinary collaboration. Talking with people from other disciplines (not just architecture or pottery) opens up a whole range of ideas and methods. (It impacts) the way we see things and pick up ideas for our own work, which is extremely important to creating a piece that is well-rounded.
We have collaborated with florists (Still Life Floral, pictured), jewellery makers (Lucy+m), chefs (Desmond Shen) and soon, a botanical and landscape artist (Pudica). Currently, we’re working on other collaborative projects with various artists – one of which will be staged at (the conceptual private dining space Alter Native) in September. I’m very excited to see how this will take form. Come by soon!"
"We currently do not have a physical stockist – our available vessels ($150-$189) are sold on our Instagram platform through posts and stories, where we sell various collections several times a year."