If you’re the sort of person who feels dizzy on Tilt-a-Whirl rides at the fair you should probably avoid the video below. We’re locked on the perspective of the clay as potter-designer Eric Landon of Tortus Copenhagen creates a vase. It’s a perspective on ceramics-making that we haven’t seen yet and yes, we have seen millions.
The video promotes Tortus, a joint venture between Eric Landon and Karin Blach Nielsen, two highly talented makers. What makes their pottery a little different is that they approach it as a design studio, with Eric’s brother Justin in charge of branding and promotion.
Both a master potter and a designer, Eric is focused on a constant refinement of both form and technique. For him, the one cannot evolve naturally without the other. His love for wheel thrown pottery started at age 16 and has evolved into a way of life in addition to being his vocation. For Eric, shaping objects by hand is not a look back at the past but a timeless value to move forward. He is a graduate of the Danish school of Design in Copenhagen and has been awarded with a number of grants, international exhibition selections, and other distinctions for the quality of his work.
A skilled potter in her own right, Karin is Tortus’s “architect of color and surface.” She combines an understanding of the vessel form with a deep knowledge of ceramic materials to create truly living objects that harness the full expressive potential of clay and glaze. Karin is curious by nature and each application of glaze for her is an event, letting her impulses lead her investigative process towards new expressions, styles, or objects. Her ideas emerge during or as an extension of the making process. Karin is a graduate of the Royal College of Art in London. She has been awarded a number of distinctions for her work, including support from the National Foundation for the Arts in Denmark.
The potters state that Tortus is “about the love of making and passion for materials.” They state that their goal is to create vessels of timeless quality and beauty, but they’re not on a hard-and-fast schedule. …(Like) the noble creature from which we derive our name, we move at our own humble pace.”
Above image: Eric Landon of Tortus Copenhagen studios begins work on a ceramic vessel. Courtey of the artists.
This video gives us a wheel-eye view as Eric Landon of Tortus Copenhagen throws clay. Video courtesy of the studio.
Vessels from Tortus Copenhagen’s Unika series. The title is derived from a Danish term for craft objects which are unique. The series evolved from the designers’ passion for exploring the “depths of possibilities that emerge when hands are allowed to flow freely through material.” All images courtesy of the designers.
Vessels from Tortus Copenhagen’s Fluted series. The studio sees the objects as modern interpretations of traditional design elements, focusing on the harmony between texture and form derived from the simplest of materials.
Photos from around Tortus Copenhagen’s studio in Denmark.
Eric Landon at work, shaping a vessel.
Karin Blach Nielsen at work in the Tortus Copenhagen studio. All photographs courtesy of the designers.
Just curious. what kind of wheel do you use?
Amazing, clean creations you have there.
Whenever I come to Copenhagen, I’ll definitely check your studio!