On ceramics, connecting to the past, and finding stillness in the present

Ceramic artist Nancy Kwon’s hand-thrown mug, created for our 2020 holiday gift collection, marks the first time we’ve worked with a local artist to create an exclusive handcrafted piece just for Blue Bottle. The mug is inspired by our Winter Blooms collection and the floral arrangements of Sayaka Wada, which capture winter’s promise of renewal.

Kwon’s work straddles the line between ritual and function. She found resonance in Wada’s visually arresting sculptures—especially the use of organic materials in different life stages, such as disintegrating leaves or tightly wound green buds. She saw parallels to her own abiding love for pottery’s earthliness—vessels that are made of clay, a material taken from the earth, can return, over time, to the soil.

We talked to Kwon about her work, how contemporary ceramics connects her to an ancient craft, and how she came up with a mug that is both delicate and functional, quiet and expansive.

Blue Bottle x Nancy Kwon Hand-Thrown Mug

How did you design the mug for our Winter Blooms holiday collection?

The theme of Winter Blooms aligned with my aesthetic, especially when I saw images of Sayaka Wada’s floral arrangements. The idea of winter, and the colors it evokes, along with the subtle play of textures in the natural world—all of this felt natural for me. I am drawn to making surfaces that have organic texture and earth tones, and the idea behind Winter Blooms really came to life when I created the shape of the mug. I wanted it to mimic the shape of flower buds, though I also wanted it to be functional and good to hold.

Were there particular images of Sayaka’s Wada’s work that inspired the mug’s design?

Yes, I worked from one image when thinking about the mug’s shape, the one with the tumbleweed where the bud emerges from it. And the image that has disintegrating leaves in it, where you can see the veins of the leaves, informed how I glazed the mug. The texture of the leaves led me to use expressive brushstrokes on the outside of the mug to allow the clay to seep through the glaze.

A handmade mug has an air of intimacy, its shape and glaze a subtle reminder of the hands who made the cup. We see this in your mug. What aspects of it are you fond of?

I’m actually using one of the mugs right now. What I like about it is that because of the way the mug’s bottom curves, it fits into the palm of your hand really well. I hadn’t planned that initially. But I imagine using this when it is colder, and also imagine how it will warm your hand.

The top rim is unique to it, too. It’s angled and smooth so that when you take a sip, the way it meets your mouth feels right.

What first drew you to pottery?

Pottery was at first a way for me to study my personal history. It’s a part of my culture—ceramics are central in Korean tea ceremonies and ancestor worship. Back when I was living in New York, I began working with a Japanese potter who made a lot of functional pieces, and as soon as I started, pottery became this gateway for me to understand these elements that had always been a part of my life.

While my work is inspired by Korean art, I look to ancient art in general. I love how parallels exist in pottery from so many different parts of the world, like how vessels from entirely different continents might share similarities in form or function. I love how in so many places, pottery is made based on natural materials to imitate organic textures.

You said that ceramics is an ancient art and that draws you to it. Can you tell us more?

I have always been interested in historic preservation and ancient art. Ceramics have been around for thousands of years. The process of how things are made is pretty much the same, though we have electric wheels and kilns now. I love that I am part of this old tradition, even if my methods are slightly different. I also love seeing how older pieces age. When I was in New York, I’d go to the Met often and take in the artifacts in its collection. To see how the artifacts age and the different kinds of clay that were used in vessels from all over the world is a reminder of how clay is part of the earth. It feels right that pottery is seen as an art form, while also serving domestic needs.

Speaking of domestic needs, what are the qualities that you look for in a hand-thrown vessel?

You can often tell the skill of the artist based on the weight of the foot and the consistency of the rim. You want even balance, not heaviness. When someone is beginning to learn pottery, so much of the process is intuitive. When you’re creating a form, knowing how thin or thick the bottom is, is really based on experience. You learn to control this factor over time. With Japanese and Korean pottery, when you’re learning from someone, these are the factors—the rim and the foot—that become the important things to pay attention to.

One hundred fifty mugs are a lot to make by hand. What is the process like for you?

When I’m making so many mugs, I’m almost like a machine. It’s kind of nice. I don’t know if I can say it’s meditative—it’s quite labor intensive—but I don’t really think about it. I am just kind of moving.

I first start by making the body of the mug. I weigh out all of the clay first, 700 grams for each mug. And then I throw the form on the wheel. Once the mugs dry to the leather-hard stage—when there’s moisture in the clay, but it wouldn’t fall apart if you touch it—I refine the shape using different tools and create the handle and then attach it. Afterwards, the whole piece needs to dry very slowly in a place that’s pretty humid to prevent cracking. When something is added, like a handle, which has a different moisture level, the piece becomes more delicate.

After the first firing, I glaze the mugs, and after the second firing, I sand and smooth the bottoms of the mugs. The process of making so many iterations of a piece is so different from when I am either in the design process or making a larger, one-of-a-kind sculpture. For me, there are really two states of mind: when I am making something more in the realm of sculpture or if I'm trying out something new, I am very slow, careful, and thoughtful. When I get into production and I'm making something that will be functional and used daily, I kind of disappear, and then it's just my body that's working. I think it's interesting to work in these two different ways—learning different sides of myself and what I am capable of.

One last question we have to ask, what is your coffee routine like?

I usually drink pour over, but if I'm in a rush I use my drip coffee brewer. I drink coffee in the morning and then again in the evening. My family has always been evening coffee drinkers—we’d often drink coffee together after a meal to digest.

Learn more about Sayaka Wada’s work, the inspiration behind our Winter Blooms collection.

An Interview with Ceramic Artist Nancy Kwon

On ceramics, connecting to the past, and finding stillness in the present