Ceramics | by Alice Lee

Ceramics

Ceramics is a new journey for me and I'm excited to see where we'll go together. Below is a round-up of the ceramic projects I've completed since 2021.

Mooncake Wishes · 50 Foxes · Asian Snacks · Animal Crossing

Mooncake Wishes

Mooncake Wishes is a collection of ceramic dishes, mugs, planters, and vases inspired by the flower shapes found in mooncakes, and the childhood memories I have with my grandma. I was also inspired by the clover flower shapes found naturally in Asian culture — food and pastries (egg tarts! naruto! mangosteens!), architecture, culture, etc. We even had similar floral-shaped dishes that we’d eat mooncakes on growing up.

Each piece feels like a part of me — childhood memories, infused with my heritage and design spin. I began this project over the lunar new year, and completed it by the mid-autumn festival (the holiday traditionally celebrated with mooncakes).

Stockists

May 20 — SJ Made (IRL)
Early June — Shop drop!

Oct 25

Spooky Spells with Cam Chan / @_baomii

50 Foxes — 50 Memories

50 Foxes is my 2023 weekly challenge where I make a ceramic fox every week that represents a memory or experience that happened! This project is ongoing and updated monthly on my Instagram.

For the full catalog of our foxes so far, check out the foxes on their own page!

Childhood Snacks & Blooms

in collaboration with Amy Wibowo

To all the Asian snacks we've ever loved — Vitasoy, Pocky, Teh Kotak, Hello Panda, and Yakult — thank you for powering our childhoods! Together with Amy, we created this series of six Asian snacks turned into vases. Each vase is slipcast, with the exception of the Pocky, which was hand-built. The vases were also painted by hand using underglaze, which took hours for each one in order to get the clean, sharp edges. Amy painted the Teh Kotak, Hello Panda, and Yakult (as well as had the original idea for this project!), and I created the Pocky and two Vitasoys. The gorgeous floral arrangements in the first picture are by Diosa Blooms, a wonderful local floral shop in the Mission.

I've continued to create more functional childhood snacks, and my pieces are below:

Vitasoy classic

Vitasoy Crysanthenum Tea

Strawberry Pocky

Those Pocky sticks are made of clay, too — with strawberry "glaze"!

Strawberry Koala's March

The underlying form for this vase was slipcasted by Amy.

White Rabbit Candy Planter

Animal Crossing Planters

in collaboration with Amy Wibowo

These Animal Crossing planters are an ode to my and Amy's love of the game, houseplants, and ceramics.

We split this project into two broad sections: "ceramics"-side and "painting"-side. Every planter was 3D modeled, slipcast, trimmed, and glazed by Amy ("ceramics"-side), and underglazed by me ("painting"-side). You can read more about our process here.

Please note, these planters are a personal passion project fueled by our love of Animal Crossing and are not for sale.

Photo: Amy Wibowo

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