Tell us about your practice and how you came to making?

I have been drawing and painting  since I was a child, but working in clay and design is fairly recent. I took a mandatory wheel-throwing class as a teenager, because I went to a Waldorf high school. I was horrible, comically bad even. After that, I never wanted to touch clay again. I ended up taking a hand-building course with a friend in Los Angeles almost as a joke, then really fell for the medium. It was such an LA cliché. 

I started working alone in my garage hand-building. I was surprised by how unfettered it felt. I come from a background in figurative painting, and had worked in galleries. Drawing and painting at that point felt so fraught by historical and market references that I found both practices joyless. Working on a practical object felt very open. In an odd way, making something functional let me abstract the personal influences that inspired the object. My drawings were always too personal, almost diaristic. The ceramics are equally personal but their meaning is mostly private to everyone but me.

Do you have a ritual when it comes to making/designing work?

Most designs begin with a drawing. I have always had some sort of drawing practice ever since I was a child, so bringing an idea to paper is the most natural starting place for me. The drawings are not necessarily what the object ends up being. In fact that almost never happens, but they act as a way to capture an initial fleeting idea.

You’ve spoken about your upbringing near the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the lifestyle that comes with it. How has that environment shaped your approach to materials, form, and making?

I have a very tactile relationship to making and I think that comes from my upbringing. My mother built my childhood home from cob, and the house seemed like an extension of the landscape. Our land had an open meadow that led to woods and a stream. I would spend hours wandering through the trees, which was very idyllic. I think that my relationship to nature has certainly translated into my ceramics.

The deep, metallic glazes in your work feel rich and dimensional. How did you begin developing this approach, and was there a particular moment or influence that sparked it?

I was looking at metal work in the MET archive and feeling like I wanted to reference that in a new way. I think if I had access to a foundry I would have worked with metal directly. But working with clay resulted in something that felt like its own form, so the limitation was very fruitful. 

I like the idea that certain pieces look like wrought iron or steel but through a dream lens, ending up a bit awry and loose.

Ceramics are often experienced as tabletop objects, but you’ve developed a body of wall-based work—some decorative, some functional. What led you to explore ceramics in this more architectural way?

This came from a fairly selfish impulse because I wanted to eat dinner by candle light. Wall-mounted candles used to be very common, functional objects prior to homes being wired with electricity. Today, having a wall-mounted candle is quite luxurious. For me, it signals a time of repose within the home.

Much of your work engages with light, whether through wired fixtures or candle-based pieces. What drew you to exploring light as a central element in your practice?

Lighting heightens whatever is already present in design. I love that a shift in lighting can create a change in an entire space. Candlelight can create a particularly gentle mood. I started making candle holders because I wanted to spend more time in that hazy romantic atmosphere. I often think of the essay ‘In Praise of Shadows’ which references traditional Japanese architecture in contrast to western design influence. The author cites the strength of darkness, of dimness allowing subtle moments of reflection to shine. This delicate exchange adds so much to a space. Lighting must always reference shadow and consider its influence in a room.

Is there anything you’ve dreamed of making, but haven’t yet?

I have been dreaming about woodworking recently. My grandfather was a woodworker and I recently inherited a large credenza he made with beautiful dovetail joinery. I would love to combine my ceramics with a wooden component, possibly creating a room divider or table.

What’s next for you?

I am excited to expand into more hospitality projects. I have a few projects coming up which I can't speak on in detail, but which I am very excited about. Lighting for a larger space is such fun, it really feels like setting a stage for a play to unfold.