Drawswords Studio

If you know me in real life, you know I’m pretty tall (193cm / 6’4”) and have big hands. Now, hand size doesn’t really matter when playing the drums — which I’ve been doing for most of my life — but when doing ceramics??? Whewww… it makes throwing small objects seriously challenging. Imagine this: me trying to open or shape something with just my pinky…
Yep.

So, it was frustratingly fun to try and make something rrrrreally small. A cute little bowl, measuring a measly 3.5cm width at the rim, 2cm at the foot, and 2.5cm in height. It’s the smallest thing I’ve ever thrown, and I’m kind of proud of it 😉

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A red stoneware vase that feels less made than unearthed — as if it spent decades buried beneath earth and roots before resurfacing at an archaeological dig site.

Hand-carved and layered with multiple glazes: matte, glossy, and lava textures melting into one another like traces of time, soil, and erosion.

⌀12cm, height 23.5cm.
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Another stoneware vase from a raku firing in the north of Amsterdam.

This one was layered with multiple glazes before going into the flames, and the firing gave it everything I hoped for: vivid colour shifts, fine crackled textures, and deep carbon trapping in the unglazed parts of the clay.

The unpredictability of Raku — part control, part surprise — is exactly why I love the process so much.

⌀14cm, height 20cm.
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A set of matcha bowls, made for Natalia after she brought back a rowdy kilo (!) of matcha from Japan. My intent was for the bowls to feel incredibly comfortable when cradled in her hands, hence the trimmed rings, and for the colour to contrast with the intensely green matcha itself.

For this set — and for quite a few things I’m currently making — I used ’ Lavafleck, containing basalt that forms those deep brown flecks that beautifully pop up during high firing.

I brushed the outsides with wax resist before glazing both bowls with a glossy recycle glaze that we call Midnight Espresso, and a ‘Vogelei’ (bird egg) matte glaze. It’s quite mesmerizing how the glazes interact while at the same time covering the coarse-ish texture of the clay.

⌀11.7cm, height 7cm.
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CERAMICS SALE
♥︎ Sunday May 3, 13:00–18:00

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pre-(m)Other’s Day sale!
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You love your mother*.
And your mother* loves ceramics.
It’s pretty simple, really.

Since multiple people asked, and even though I’m announcing this super late, I decided to do another ceramics sale from my own house. It’s the perfect opportunity to give these vases, jars, fermentation crocks, bowls, plates, cups, mugs, and other objects, a new home. Everything is handmade by me and is excited to explore the world outside of my living room or studio.

You are very welcome in Amsterdam-West (close to Erasmuspark) on Sunday May 3 from 13:00 to 18:00. Cash or Tikkie only.

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*And/or your father, partner, sibling, friend, neighbour, colleague, yourself, a stranger, Spring, life, the universe… a date?

🏺🍜🍽️🍯

Address:
Robert Scottstraat 4 (ground floor), Amsterdam-West

       

🥰🧨😍🔥

The Chef and the Ceramicist

Last October at a wine night, Natalia took inspiration from her recent travels to Japan and created a menu encompassing many parts of Asia. As per most events, she never seems to enjoy her own cooking through the adrenaline and the hustle bustle. That is, until a quiet moment at home with the leftovers.

Some of you have seen Rob’s house, but let me exclaim; it’s haemorrhaging ceramics. Hundreds of items, all wheel-thrown by him, and he shows no sign of slowing down. The day after feels like a sneaky part 2 of the event where we have fun selecting the best bowl for the dish and often eat it in our pyjamas while watching Australian Masterchef or documentaries about wolves in Yellowstone. In a rare streak of natural Amsterdam sunlight, we held an impromptu photoshoot. How could we best showcase the dish and the vessel?

Here is a hummingly-spicy, creamy, coconuty Malaysian Laksa with Korean rice cakes (tteokkboki) and a rainbow coloured Japanese winter slaw with a miso and tamarind dressing and furikake.

🥰

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Detail of a (sort of) wildly glazed foot on this platter. I like it when the bottom of a piece holds some sort of surprise too 🙂
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It was great to be back in the ceramics studio, after a few amazing weeks of holidays, academy assessments, and other activities. I love throwing fermentation pots and other lidded forms, so I couldn’t wait to throw a few more. I often keep the walls of the lids slightly thicker so that I can trim and carve them quite extremely and create edges that the glaze can break over.
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As you can probably tell, I like playing with glaze combinations and application. For this weirdo 🪨 rock-like soliflore vase, I brushed parts of it with wax resist before glazing it and I really like how you can still see the brush strokes and drips.
⌀12cm, height 17cm.
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As part of a Pacific Northwest & Canada road trip that and I did in the summer of 2024, we explored Canada’s mind-blowingly gorgeous Icefields Parkway. The turquoise lakes, the waterfalls, the endless forests and mountains; truly some of the most beautiful nature that I’ve ever experienced.

I tried to capture some of this magic in the carving and glazing of this big platter, thrown using a heavy grogged red stoneware clay body called Brasil, produced by Solargil in France. It’s absolutely beautiful to work with and I love how it fires, but it takes foreeeeeeever to clean — it’s a bit of a ‘crime scene clay’, if that makes sense 😉

⌀29,5cm, height 6cm.
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