“We create an opportunity for the vase to move, dance and become a gestural body rather then a passive inanimate object.”

Clay Bodies is a process and material-driven idea that bridges technology with the handmade. After researching the techniques and shapes of vases elaborated over the centuries to conquer and domesticate porcelain and seeing that despite these efforts pieces still collapse in the high firing process, Julie & Jesse worked with the inherent accident to choreograph and capture the movement of porcelain occurring during firing.

Fascinated by the human-like demeanor of porcelain vases thrown out of the workshops of Jingdezhen when they failed to keep their shape in firing, the duo conceived a clay and technique of their own to encourage, capture and seize the collapse of vases. The outcome is a series of vessels that are fluid and invested with the appearance of dancers.

“To describe a vase is not unlike describing a human body. An expert will talk about its foot, waist, neck and lip to depict its shape. Yet vases are static as opposed to our bodies that are in constant motion. We wanted to capture this beautiful instant during firing when clay becomes pliable and moves. The resulting pieces are re-formed by fire and become animated clay bodies”

Julie & Jesse let heat work on the vases to create a new aesthetic out of an archetype. Each vase becomes animated as if it were dancing and the duo are the choreographers of this dance.