Valentine's Day Collection 2021

This song has been an early favourite of mine ever since I followed this chinese singing competition. There is this sense of poignancy that comes across so well through this song. I loved it when I first heard it but when I listened back about some months later did I realize that I could really relate to the poignancy of it. There are times when only upon looking back and reflecting does the weight of some gestures really hit you. Some time ago, I made a pair of cups of this form for someone who meant something to me. At that time I did not think much about the gesture or what it meant to me. It never really struck me the weight of a handmade gift until it came my time to make a piece for somebody. It was only after time had settled in and I had gathered some distance did I realize how romantic the process of making something for someone could be.

Time has always been a precious commodity to me, so the act of making a gift for someone is not solely the thought that was placed into it but also the time that was spent in its creation. What is beautiful about creating a pottery piece is the sheer amount of time that it takes to mould a piece of clay and turn it into something so different from its original form. The end product is so different the original lump of clay that it started out as. The form, texture, malleability, the change in its physical properties is a result of the time the clay has went through and the physical and chemical processes that it has to undergo with time.

The romance of it all also comes about in the deliberateness of knowing that that piece of clay is going to be transformed and given to someone. Right from the beginning of the process, that piece of clay has been selected, and thus now belongs to a specific person. And hence, each step of making feels like an additional step branding it to its chosen owner. In every sense, that lump of clay already has a destination, a home, a belonging, in the hands of the recipient. It brings to mind that Kygo song Born To Be Yours. Then, there comes the process of throwing. Every pull is made with intention, as ones fingers graze each surface of the clay it feels like every bit of feelings, thoughts and memories you have of them are etched in each inch of clay.

The emotions that were given while in the process of trimming sets with the clay itself, sealing itself in as the clay awaits to be trimmed and bisque fired. There is this nervous trepidation that comes with glazing, as you are never really sure how the the outcome will turn out like. Glazing is always like the make or break it moment, one is never sure how the end product will turn out like, will the recipient like it in the end?

I chose this form for practical purposes, such that it could fit a decent amount of flat white. There is an imprinted thumbprint marking, as a substitute of my presence for moments when I am not with them. While I never got to send out the original cups, it eventually did reach the intended recipient. And in some sense, this is where the loop closes, and where the journey ends. The cups have reached where it was meant to go, and that confers peace and resolution. This valentine's day, I wanted to share the romance of it all with you. This is the origin story of these mugs that we have released for Valentines Day 2021.