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The Pebble Collection

Most of us love to walk along a beach, taking in the surroundings. Many of us are drawn to stones, some of us collect them. ìIt looked amazing when it was wet,î we say, as we show our friends.

The contours formed by time and the waves, the patterns revealed by the constant motion and abrasion, and the light reflecting off the water, these provide the inspiration for the designs in this collection.

London based artist and designer Sarina de Majo set herself the task of capturing a pebble at the moment it is taken out of the water. After much experimenting, she developed a special technique which achieves this effect on ceramic and porcelain. She paints the pebbles individually - as in nature, each one is different - and fires the piece up to three times to achieve the required intensity of colour. Having used her original method of glazing, during the final firing ìwater dropletsî appear on the surface of each pebble, giving the impression that it has just been taken out of the sea.

Everything is made to order and each piece is unique.
 

On this floor, the 300 x 300mm porcelain tiles have been used. As the pebbles alone have "water droplets", the surrounding tile being unglazed porcelain, the tiles retain their 'slip resistance'.

I think the clock is self explanatory (time, motion, stones, water....) and did you notice the Roman numerals on each pebble?




This is a beautiful linen hanging made for the Pebble Collection by Ewa Morawski. I chose silk velvet for the pebbles as it continues the theme by producing the illusion of light playing on the surface wet stones. The pebbles are secured to the background with embroidered lines

Click to enlarge these images
 

Trying to extend the Pebble Collection to include rugs was interesting. I decided to put the 'light reflecting off water' idea aside,and go for another aspect of stones on a beach: the fact that they protrude from the sand. The pebbles on these rugs are domed and seem to rise out of the seven colours of wool that make up the sandy background.

Slipcast from high fired earthenware clay, I produce a small quantity of vessels of various shapes and sizes. Each has one pebble on the inside, (which is fully glazed) and the outside is given a soft colour, but left matt. The internal space represents the pebble lying in water, the exterior the sand which lies beneath.

And for the really adventurous...... these amazing leather and latex body purses, made in collaboration with Caroline Abraham, and Carol Graves Johnstone of Cingula belts.