Charlotte Talbot from Super Ceramics
From her sunlit atelier in Vendée, in western France, Charlotte Talbot from Super Ceramics draws on her industrial design roots, creating delicate and minimal ceramic pieces that are made to last a lifetime.
Photography: Jonathan Mauloubier
Charlotte Talbot in her studio in Vendée, in western France. Photo: Jonathan Mauloubier
Photo: Jonathan Mauloubier
Volcano Vase / GRID by Super Ceramics. Photo: Jonathan Mauloubier
‘I guess we live a slower life than we did in the city, it’s slower and more connected to nature.’ Photo: Jonathan Mauloubier
H&F: Hi Charlotte, what led you to where you are today?
Charlotte: I studied art and design since high school, from the age of 15. After that I studied product design in two different art schools, one in Reims, France and the second in ECAL in Lausanne, Switzerland. I did severals internships in design studios and had my first and unique job at Konstantin Grcic’s office in Munich, in Germany. After 8 years working internally as an industrial designer, I started working for different brands as a freelancer. Ceramics came into the picture back in 2015 when I had a lot of free time during my pregnancy and the 8 month parental leave I had while in Germany. It started as an hobby but quickly I was so happy to spend time away from the screen and more working with my hands. I created Super Ceramics in 2016. After we moved back to France in 2019, I had more time and space to expand and create more tableware for the collection.
What’s does a ‘normal’ day in your atelier look like?
As we live and work in the same place, I’m trying to have a really healthy relationship with work and my atelier. It’s a just a door apart from our home, but we’re keeping both lives separate, and I stop working as soon the kids are at home. I usually work from 9am to 4:30pm or 6:30pm, depending if I’m the one picking up the kids from school and day care.
I like to start the day by drinking a cup of coffee in front of my weekly schedule, which I prepare the Friday evening for the following week. Having a plan helps me not jump everywhere in between tasks. I’m working maybe 70 per cent in the atelier, making products and 30 per cent on the computer, to create content or do administration, including taking care of the web shop and answering emails. I also try to go out everyday for a walk, as we are live in the countryside.
As an artist, what’s the best lesson you’ve learnt along the way?
To keep space for creativity and schedule time for it – it’s easy to get caught up in daily life with tasks that aren’t creative, so I really schedule few times per year where it’s purely creative and I don’t have to produce, but just experiment and create. It’s refreshing and helps me stay happy in my practice.
When did you first understand art and design as a form of expression?
In high school during art history class, they taught us ancient art through to contemporary art. With those classes, I really understood that art is the highest way and more unique and necessary form of expression. Mankind needed to express themselves with painting or sculptures, even when their basic human needs like eating and surviving were at stake. Nothing can stop people from creating – not wars, restrictions, poverty or disabilities.
What drives your creativity?
I like to create products that people use in their daily life. Since working as an industrial designer, I was driven by that. Knowing people are living surrounded by one of multiple products I work on is the best feeling ever. While working for Konstantin Grcic, I designed cups collection for Nespresso and that was 10 years ago. They’re still sold all over the world, and used daily. Now I’m making tableware on a much smaller scale, but I am equally as proud.
Pieces from the GRID series by Super Ceramics. Photo: Jonathan Mauloubier
‘I’m not an illustrator, I can’t draw complex motives, so graphic ones like lines and grids were my basic way to fill a surface and make it come alive.’ Photo: Jonathan Mauloubier
“It’s important as an artist to keep space for creativity and schedule time for it – it’s easy to get caught up in daily life with tasks that aren’t creative.”
‘In ceramics you have multiple possibilities. It’s endless and I love to experiment, so it’s the perfect field for me.’ Photo: Jonathan Mauloubier
‘We live a slower life than we did in the city, it’s slower and more connected to nature. It’s harder to see how nature evolves during the year in the city.’ Photo: Jonathan Mauloubier
‘I’m the only person behind everything – it’s exhausting and sometimes overwhelming, but when I succeed, it’s the best feeling ever.’ Photo: Jonathan Mauloubier
Tell us about your process…
I did learn a bit about throwing on the wheel but I immediately connected with slab-making – somehow it’s closer to my design practice. I was making a lot of paper and cardboard models of different products like chairs, tableware or even wash basins, while working at Konstantin Grcic and it was always the same process: drawing the product on the computer using a CAD software and then translate it into flat surfaces to then built with paper. I applied this thinking with my products: I hand-build all my products with slabs - which means that after imagining and drawing the pieces, I then create stencils to help replicate the shapes on slabs of clay.
Why is this your dream job?
Don’t ask me why, but since I was young, I always said that I never wanted to have a boss or to be a boss. I have had bosses and it was OK, but now that I’m working by myself, with my rules and goals – I’m the happiest. Creating and making products as a craftswoman is the obvious result of this mentality. I’m the only person behind everything – it’s exhausting and sometimes overwhelming, but when I succeed, it’s the best feeling ever. I don’t know if I will be a ceramist all my life as it’s really demanding physically and mentally, with all the selling and managing on the side of the making, but I don’t think I will be able to go back to the corporate life.
What’s the most memorable project/collection you’ve worked on?
I would say it’s creating the BASICS collection. It’s my tableware collection, which includes plates, bowls, mugs and a carafe. I slowly and carefully choose the shapes, proportions and dimensions to make a useful collection of items with a personalty, which is still timeless. It’s still ongoing – I need to adapt, change or add items, but I love to replicate this collection each year. Some clients buy one item at the time and they create their set slowly. I love that!
What is it about ceramics you’re so drawn to?
In ceramics you have multiple possibilities. It’s endless and I love to experiment, so it’s the perfect field for me. Each year I work on a capsule collection, one-of-a-kind collections with different finishes and techniques, which I like to test. I’m always using the same stencils, but in porcelain, different clays or with decals, mixed and tinted. I play with an extruder or with the decoration… it’s so much fun and it’s what I love about ceramics.
What is about the application of your signature lines and grids that are applied onto your work that you’re drawn to?
When I started ceramic back in 2015, it was purely a hobby, I tested all the glazes in the local workshop I had classes. I also bought oxydes pencils and chalks to test them and I drew lines and grids on my plates and bowls. When they came out of the kiln I realised they were the simplest pieces. Simple, but timeless – people from different backgrounds, tastes or ages liked them so I continued and adapted the pattern to have the perfect scale and style. It came naturally with time. it wasn’t on purpose. I’m not an illustrator, I can’t draw complex motives so graphic ones like lines and grids were my basic way to fill a surface and make it come alive.
What is the biggest influence behind your pieces?
This is a classic, but hard question to answer. I’m really attached to industrial design fields – designers like Pierre Charpin, The Bouroullec brothers, Konstantin Grcic and Jasper Morrison. But really, what I love are the daily products that you can find in markets when you travel. I have memories in supermarkets in Japan, souk in Marrakech and Istanbul or markets in India, where I came back with tons of daily objects like spoons, pencils, cups or cooking utensils. The shapes, colours, curves and details inspire me. I also love to visit folk art or ethnological museums when I travel, as ancient objects have the most beautiful shapes. If I can recommend a book that combines this two inspirations: daily products in markets and museum hunting, it’s The Hard Life by by Jasper Morrison. Just fascinating.
Do you think your environment in France has an influence on your work?
We live and work in the countryside near a small town. I’m definitely influenced by the seasons – in winter and autumn my creativity is lower than in spring and summer, so I stay inside so I have more time more to reflect on my work, to draw and to think about new products. When the sun and the flowers arrive, I want colours, brightness and fun, so the capsule collections are always take shape in spring time. We live a slower life than we did in the city, it’s slower and more connected to nature. It’s harder to see how nature evolves during the year in the city.
What are you looking forward to most this year?
I love to connect or collaborate with other creatives so I’m looking forward to the next collaboration. Each year I give carte blanche [complete creative freedom] to creatives I love. They have my shapes in porcelain and they can do whatever they want with them. This year, for the third time, it will be with my friend and graphic designer Marie Priour. Every time, she takes my products to the next level with patterns, drawing or figurative shapes that I never do. It’s really fresh and we will present her collection at the Independent Ceramic Market in London on Sunday 25th of June.
Beginning of July, the place we live and work in, Les Ateliers du Pôl’Art, will have open doors with artists and craftsmen invited, concerts and live performances. It is always a nice weekend full with gatherings and talks with the public.