I have always made functional work because there is a demand from people wanting that most special vessel for their daily time out.

I resorted to slip casting in the eighties to solve the problem of demand and still revert to small popular series from those days, like the fish and the mermaid mug series. This sort of work originates from a very different time in my life.

This year I decided that it was time to make a new sort of functional work that is similar in spirit and style to my more contemplative ‘exhibition work’. I was aiming for a deeper coherence in the way the functional vessels look and at the same time was attempting to encourage a state of mindfulness in daily rhythms of life. In my mind there should be no difference between the “sacred” as linked to high art and the ‘profane’ or functional side of life.

When I showed my new ideas to a friend and colleague she said “hardly functional” (in far less polite terms!) My response to this very understandable comment is that it’s function is to keep one mindful.

For that is in fact what I have set out to do. I wanted to make beautiful and precious things that require careful handling and are there to be used. I aspire to a pared down lifestyle and enjoy those pauses in the day where beauty and mindfulness meet. We live in a watershed time where awareness of how we live and what we consume is in sharp focus. Mass production has lost us the human touch and the time to be present where we are and so we lose appreciation for those very simple things which warm the heart and keep the body alive.

Katherine Glenday
December 2009