Embracing female tattoo culture
Israeli artist Ronit Baranga creates unique clay sculptures which combine traditional ceramic items such as teapots with grotesque body parts. Her creations cross the border between the living and still life with their gaping mouths, grasping fingers and tattooed babies. Ronit’s art is displayed in museums and galleries around the world, follow her Instagram to see more…
Charlotte Clark is a designer maker from Stourbridge, West Midlands who creates tattoo inspired ceramics. We chatted to Charlotte about what inspires her and how she makes each piece…
How did you set up your business? I fell into it really, after graduating from university with a degree in glass art, I was making and doing craft fairs to get some money whilst I was looking for a ‘real job’ and it ended up being rather more successful than I had imagined! I have now gone from dreams of just making a living to thinking the sky is the limit!
What inspired you to do so? I have always been creative, and wanted to go into arts management after uni, but found it really competitive in the current economic climate, so having worked unhappily in many retail jobs whilst searching for the dream job I was inspired to create my own job!
Do you have a background in art? Yes, I did three A Levels in art and design in college, before going on to study glass art at university in Wolverhampton.
How do you make your ceramics? What is the process? All pieces begin with an idea, whether that is when I see the perfect unusual piece of china to use, sparking a ‘I know what I’m going to do with that’ moment, or an idea which takes me a while to think around! My pieces are designed digitally, then the transfers are printed using my decal printer and applied by hand to the ceramic piece, before being fired in the kiln to melt the surface glaze and allow the ink of the decal to imbed onto the china. As my pieces are kiln fired they are all dishwasher proof.
What inspires your designs? How do you create them? Designs are all inspired by anything that grabs me! Sometimes the concept will be born first and I will look for something for it to go on, and other times it will be led by finding a piece and knowing what it should have on it!
Where do you source things from? All over the place! I am always on the look out for unusual pieces to use!
Where can people buy them from? Do you do commissions? People can buy online or at one of my outlets (currently mostly Midlands based) or at one of the shows I go to – all details are on my website!