A selection of Moon Jars in different glazes.
Handmade ceramics and expressionist art on the banks of a Danish fjord The Cosy Times Ceramics shop and gallery, in the Danish town of Kerteminde, is a stone’s throw from the fjord. Here, the flat, sweeping banks are clustered with redbrick homes, wooden fishing houses and small boats bobbing on the swell. To the east, the waters open into the Kattegat Strait and the Baltic Sea. This is where ceramic artist Svetlana Slizova, owner of Cosy Times Ceramics, comes to get her hands dirty. By Lena Hunter
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Photos: Cosy Times Ceramics
Cosy Times Ceramics’ sunny front overlooks a busy, cobbled street corner. But inside, the shop is serene – adorned with expressionist art and low, white shelves bearing her gem-like collection of handmade bowls, vases, jars and coffee sets.
and pepper bowls, where the size needs to be consistent – I weigh the porcelain clay bowls before throwing on the wheel. I like to create different shapes and then decide which glazes and finishing touches fit the best,” explains Svetlana.
“I don’t like mass-produced repetition. I work in small batches of simple shapes, and my work contains many one-offs. When making sets – coffee sets or salt
The lines of Svetlana’s ceramic works recall both those of Greco-Roman art, as with her elegant poppy-seed shaped jars, and the Japanese ceramic tradition, in her
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range of petite, flared bowls and narrow vases. Likewise, the finish: “My glazing is inspired by the changes of the sea, sky and nature around the sea in different seasons. I constantly explore and am inspired by these elements,” says Svetlana.
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August 2022
“I glaze by pouring or dipping,” she continues. Often, the glaze will melt and run during the firing process, when the porcelain is heated up to 1,250 degrees centigrade. “It can run too low and stick to the kiln shelves. It’s about finding a balance between the thickness of the glaze and the shape you’re glazing. I like to experiment. Sometimes I find surprising results that I can explore further… and sometimes it can be a complete disaster,” she says with a grin.
