Maybe textiles are too much of a busman's holiday! My family have tended to steer clear of cloth when gift giving. Instead I receive clay. I suspect I made a passing remark once about liking white ceramics and the idea has stuck. Not that I am complaining: I love white clay and jugs in particular and now have a growing collection of which I am very proud - That is apart from one my daughter dropped before it had been unwrapped. I have one of Nicola Tassie, fat bellied jugs, some stacking cups by
Billy Lloyd, a set of three
Jurgen Lehl Featherweight dishes moulded on coconut shells and of course lots of
Linda Bloomfield pieces.
Perhaps my favourite though is a
Astier de Villatte flat bottom dish bought for me a few years ago by the then Selvedge team. This dish is not only beautifully proportioned with a delicate rim, but used to hold handmade soaps I pick up when I travel.
So when I was introduced to the work of
Akiko Hirai, wife of Jason Collinwood the weaver, I could not resist a collection of her products for the shop. I love the stillness of her work, particularly the bottles arranged as a Giorgio Morandi still life. Take a look and see what you think.
