My mom and dad moved into an apartment about a year ago. They did some heavy editing in terms of the things they brought with them from their old house. This is when I realized my mom has some of my earliest pots, that I had forgotten about. They are terrible. I feel queasy every time I see them. It's not the quality that bothers me. I can forgive myself for being a beginner. The problem is they remind me of my hubris for once thinking they were good pots. Seriously, they are really bad, but at the time I thought I was pretty slick.
A couple of months ago, I asked my mom if I could take these pots, throw them away, and replace them with much higher quality new pots. She didn't want to let them go, but I did convince her to give me one of them.
She let me take the awful pitcher on the left, which she was using as a vase. I made it sometime in the 90s. There are too many disconnected features ... the sphere bottom, the vertical neck, and flared rim ... they have no reason or relationship to each other. The handle looks like a limp noodle, and is the wrong size for the pot. The glaze is covered in pinholes. What you can't tell from a photograph is that it weighs as much as a cinder block, and wobbles on a flat surface.
Once my mom let go of the pot, she started seeing the benefits of a switcharoo. "Could it be about an inch taller? Maybe just a simple straight shape? And I like this spout, can it have a spout? It doesn't need a handle." I asked if I could cover it with horizontal grooves, which is a theme that's going on in my current line of vases.
The one on the right is well-proportioned, properly weighted, with all of its design elements in balance, and no extraneous features.
A couple of months ago, I asked my mom if I could take these pots, throw them away, and replace them with much higher quality new pots. She didn't want to let them go, but I did convince her to give me one of them.
She let me take the awful pitcher on the left, which she was using as a vase. I made it sometime in the 90s. There are too many disconnected features ... the sphere bottom, the vertical neck, and flared rim ... they have no reason or relationship to each other. The handle looks like a limp noodle, and is the wrong size for the pot. The glaze is covered in pinholes. What you can't tell from a photograph is that it weighs as much as a cinder block, and wobbles on a flat surface.
Once my mom let go of the pot, she started seeing the benefits of a switcharoo. "Could it be about an inch taller? Maybe just a simple straight shape? And I like this spout, can it have a spout? It doesn't need a handle." I asked if I could cover it with horizontal grooves, which is a theme that's going on in my current line of vases.
The one on the right is well-proportioned, properly weighted, with all of its design elements in balance, and no extraneous features.
This is a combination Mother's Day / Father's Day gift. The vase is for mom, and the flowers are for dad.
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