Community Spotlight: Object and Totem

This month we are celebrating the 2nd anniversary of our book, Ikebana Unbound, being published. In this celebration, we also get to reflect on all the creative partners we worked with to make our designs and ideas come to fruition. We were so lucky to work with Julianne Ahn of Object and Totem who created one of a kind vessels for our plum blossom arrangement. More from Julianne Ahn:

“Post recession, I got a job that laid me off after almost two years which afforded me time to take up a 4 week throwing class at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia. Eventually, the new hobby turned into a job, but with substantial practice, trial and error, meanwhile moving to multiple cities and studios. At the time I started working in clay, it was the beginning of Instagram and what was initially used as a tool for documentation turned into a creative community for me amidst the many changes in my business from the output of work, projects and collaborators. Inspiration has evolved for me quite frequently throughout the years. In the beginning when I was newer to ceramics forms would emerge from drawings or sketched out organically while I was throwing on the wheel. Those were early attempts at trying things out and seeing if something worked as an idea or to see if I could just make it. Then later on I’d go to museums and take note of what was interesting there, but eventually it got a little stagnant - not that I don’t enjoy being inspired by historical archives, but to consciously search for inspiration takes the fun out of feeling you’ve discovered something, at least for me, sometimes. When I walk past an interesting handball court wall that’s been eroded and or fixate on the rivets of an industrial post while sitting in traffic I try to photograph them or at least remind myself what makes those details interesting and why. Having almost downloaded, if you will, all these visuals of what I enjoy from everyday objects and surfaces, to combine them in a way that makes sense during the process of making the work itself is what creates the momentum of an idea that feels unique to me.

Having started ceramics later in my life, post MFA, in addition to learning about running a small business is I’ve now established a compartmentalized body of work that includes tableware for direct retail, functional vases for wholesale and the non functional, experimental pieces that I try to make time for in between orders. I’ve come to understand how I’ve negotiated the obligations of the pieces that run a small business and the ones I create to sustain creativity in general, but they all have to exist in order for me to make work. Having said that, when you work with a material such as clay you’re signing up to always be on your toes, because the learning process feels endless and I prefer it that way. It’d be too boring otherwise. It’s great when something becomes muscle memory through practice and you’re able to achieve a desired result, but at some point it’s always good to be humbled by the process which is why I do raku firings - I never truly know how something might turn out, but it’s a good reminder to constantly curb your expectations and how you may change your mind about something because of it.

On the horizon, I’m working towards spending additional time for work that is at the tail end of functional vases and how far I can work within those boundaries. Planters are and have been a focus for me, on a small scale, but I’m hoping to extend that a bit further while still keeping it interesting as a one person studio.