Guide
Ceramics in Earthy Tones
Three bowls and three vases in terracotta, chestnut, green and cream, from €34.99 to €169. Most are made by hand, so no two are quite alike.
Earthy ceramics do for a shelf what velvet does for a chair: they give a plain surface some depth. A glaze that has pooled, a crackle that catches the light, the dull red of terracotta. Under a lamp in the evening they look warmer than anything glossy and white.
These are decorative pieces rather than tableware. Most of them are made by hand, so the colour and the shape vary a little from one to the next, and I think that is the point.
Grouping them
One piece on its own can look lost. I put two or three together on a sideboard or a low table, at different heights: a tall vase like the Earth or the Mavazi at the back, a wide bowl like the Médine or the Marinha in front. Keep to one family of colour, the terracottas and chestnut or the creams and the green, rather than all six at once.
A wide bowl does not need anything in it. If you do fill one, keep it to a few things in the same tones, so the bowl stays the thing you notice. There is more on putting clay next to wood, linen and stone in mixing natural materials.
Common questions
- What is a reactive glaze?
- A glaze that reacts as it is fired, leaving slight shifts of colour so that each piece looks a little different. The Médine bowl and the Catane vase both have one, which is why no two are the same.
- Will these ship to me?
- Four come from La Redoute's Dutch shop, and the Earth vase and the Kona bowl from Westwing's Dutch shop. Both deliver in the Netherlands. Each piece says where it ships before you click.