John Pawson

Every material has its own defining characteristics and limits. Working at the threshold of what is possible — at the boundary of what is still within the nature of a material rather than in defiance of it — can be creatively fertile territory for all collaborating parties, in terms of pushing thinking and honing technique. The Cast Bowl for 1882 is the outcome of bringing together the medium of fine bone china, some uncompromising ideas about form and specialist traditional artisanal skills and knowledge. The specific challenges of the project sprung from the piece’s scale and its cross-section, as a result of which the first prototype collapsed during firing. Experimentation led eventually to the development of a specially modelled opencast setter that prevents sagging and warping in the kiln, with no compromise to the purity of the profile.