Design | Marble and Memphis-Inspired Works by Holly Kemp began as Texture Experiments

LOUGHBOROUGH, UK — We’re continuing our summer showcase of newly-graduated designers and artists. This week we have Loughborough University graduate Holly Kemp, who used her love of marble and Memphis design to make a series of vases based on just a handful of simple shapes. Kemp said she’s looking for an internship now that she’s completed her studies in 3D design, so maybe someone in the business should send her a message.

This series of seven vessels came together from just three component parts: a large tube, a small tube and a cone shape. The minimal, complementary design means that the individual vases can be arranged and paired together in a variety of ways. The other standout feature is the color; creamy and speckled like a robin’s egg, Kemp told Confessions of a Design Geek that the series began as an experiment with texture. Some unorthodox materials went into the mix.

“The collection actually began through experimenting with the methods used to create texture within the clay’s surface,” Holly tells Design Geek. “It was only when I united that research with my love of minimalism and industrial forms, that I developed the shapes and colours.”

Taking inspiration from marble and terrazzo – a flooring material consisting of chips of marble or granite set in concrete and polished to give a smooth surface – Holly played with various methods to produce the textures, grinding down different materials including rust and aquarium gravel, before adding them to the clay.

Kemp said she’s inspired by the Memphis Group and especially by architect Ettore Sottsass. She loves industrial aesthetics and experimenting with textures. She’s beginning an MA in Ceramic Design at Stoke-on-Trent in September, according to Design Geek. You can see her work on exhibition at Lustre in Nottingham from November 12-13.

Do you love or loathe these works of contemporary ceramics? Let us know in the comments.