All Fired Up is our Store’s month-to-month handmade ceramics drop, curated by Food52, and all from small and native makers. This month, we’re that includes LA-based artist Allison Shawn of SOMBRA Studio Ceramics.
For Allison Shawn, it wasn’t a query of if she was going to run her personal enterprise—it was merely a query of when. And possibly what too. If you happen to’d instructed her in school—and even 5 years after—that ceramics could be her future, she most likely wouldn’t have believed you.
In actual fact, she won’t have believed she was doing ceramics in any respect.
After taking a wheel-throwing class in highschool, she set clay apart for practically a decade to pursue a full-time profession in structure. However when she appears at a few of her favourite items now, she nonetheless sees the affect of these early days. “The magic of the kiln appeared actually thrilling,” she explains. “I simply liked the fabric and the method and the way completely immersive it was.”
Fortunately for all of us, the Los Angeles-based artist and founding father of SOMBRA Studio Ceramics ultimately discovered her manner again to the studio. A pastime first rekindled throughout the 2020 pandemic lockdowns, ceramics shortly turned greater than only a pastime. “It was this place of refuge and freedom for me,” she says, reflecting on how the craft has all the time retained these qualities.
After we join, it is a sunny afternoon in her Northeast LA house. A sleepy canine rests at her toes, and inexperienced crops are scattered across the room—an intentional backdrop that mirrors her strategy to each life and her enterprise.
Quick ahead to right now, and Allison is operating a full-time studio from her dwelling. “It’s simply such a particular factor that has all the time pulled me again,” she says.
Most not too long ago, we collaborated together with her for our month-to-month All Fired Up ceramics drop, that includes an unique assortment from SOMBRA.
To study extra concerning the inspiration behind these items and Allison’s journey, we caught up together with her for a chat concerning the evolution of her craft.
How did you get into ceramics?
I began in highschool. It was one of many two artwork courses I may take, and I’d by no means had a possibility to work with clay earlier than. The magic of the kiln appeared actually thrilling, so I began doing it and it immediately turned one thing I liked—the fabric, the method, how completely immersive it was. If you’re working with clay, you are not doing anything. You are actually coated in mud, so that you don’t even wish to contact a doorknob—definitely not a cellphone, you realize?
So that you didn’t examine it in school in any respect?
Probably not. I used to be in a position to take a category right here and there, but it surely was far more restricted. And structure was so all-consuming—as a occupation and a artistic outlet—it type of took all the pieces I had. I didn’t actually have any artistic juice left over for it.
Ceramics and structure are each artwork kinds, however they’re fairly completely different. How do they examine?
There are lots of issues that overlap between the 2 practices. They’re each very spatial, and each are concerning the finish person. However they’re additionally fairly completely different. Structure is extraordinarily exacting and exact. There’s no spontaneity as a result of all the pieces must be deliberate to the nth diploma—ensuring everyone seems to be glad, from the shoppers to the town, to constructing codes, hearth inspections, contractors.
After which ceramics is the exact opposite. It’s fast, in your arms. Every batch of clay is completely different, so you must be attentive to the fabric within the second.
Do you bear in mind the second when ceramics began to shift from being a artistic outlet to a profession?
It was a sluggish evolution. In some unspecified time in the future, it turned much less concerning the enterprise itself and extra concerning the life-style I envisioned for myself. I’d look into the longer term and simply didn’t see myself in an workplace, on a pc in any respect. I noticed myself leaning absolutely into the enterprise.
That way of life simply felt far more pure. I used to be all the time in response and collaboration with what was taking place, relatively than residing in what can generally really feel like a faux e mail world, the place we’re inventing deadlines and stressing out about them, regardless that they’re not essentially actual.
I feel that may be actually daunting, although. Had been you nervous? Or was it identical to, “This enterprise is taking off, and I’m following that path”?
There was undoubtedly some nervousness. However, I had all the time had an concept that I wished to work for myself. That was by no means actually in query—it was only a matter of what the enterprise could be, and when it will occur.
I initially thought I’d attempt to do each structure and ceramics—discover area for each. However over the following couple of years, I spotted: this enterprise is the place the expansion is and I may see a path ahead that felt holistic and full.
Going again to your loved ones’s enterprise, are there any particular classes from these early days that you just nonetheless incorporate into your personal enterprise right now?
Completely. One of many greatest classes I realized from watching my dad and mom, particularly my dad, develop the household enterprise was the concept high quality units the tone. It’s not simply concerning the high quality of the product itself, however the high quality of each interplay and relationship surrounding it. My dad actually taught me that once you set a excessive bar, all the pieces round you rises to satisfy it.
It’s this mindset that I’ve carried into SOMBRA: high quality and belief elevate all the pieces round you. It creates a tradition of integrity, and that turns into the expectation.
Your items are sometimes described as objects meant to be cherished for years. Do you might have a bit in your house that holds deep which means for you?
There’s a serving bowl I made again in highschool and it’s adopted me into each house I’ve lived in. At first, it was only a piece I liked, however as I obtained again into ceramics, it turned a reminder of how far I’ve come as a craftsman. It’s like once you meet a five-year-old and you may already see their persona—this bowl, although tough, already had the weather that I might develop into as a designer.
It’s a particular piece as a result of, after I have a look at it now, I see the start of one thing a lot bigger. It jogs my memory of my journey and the way the muse for what I do now was all the time there.
Lastly, are you able to share a bit extra about this explicit assortment?
The gathering is a mixture of each Daniel [Zunino’s] enter and my very own changes. It was essential to me that every one the items may stay collectively in a house, whereas nonetheless exploring a variety of methods and types I exploit with SOMBRA. The gathering strikes a stability between kind and performance, all whereas talking the identical design language. I wished the items to really feel important but in addition expressive—objects meant for use and lived with day by day.
Do you might have a selected piece you’re particularly happy with?
It’s arduous to select, however one piece I’m actually happy with is a ribbed vase with a fluted texture on the skin. The method for that piece took a very long time to good. I’ve to form it with only one hand as a substitute of two, which will be difficult as a result of when you make a transfer, it’s everlasting. I’m actually happy with attending to a spot the place I had sufficient management to create that texture exactly.
