Pristine and snow-white: The adventurer Marco Polo discovered porcelain in China and brought it to Europe. For a long time the delicate yet surprisingly hard material was considered a luxury good, and today it’s hard to imagine kitchens and bathrooms without it. But not only that – modern ceramic experts lcreate genuine designer pieces with porcelain. Like Courtney Hamill,
In her small studio “Honeycomb” in Atlanta, the American artist makes individual porcelain sculptures. She experiments with materials, comes up with new forms, and develops imaginative design for the home. Every piece is unique and made by hand. For example the “minimalist ring holder”, which unites the purism of porcelain with precious gold leaf. Whether in the living room or the pure ME by Starck bathroom, the approx. seven-centimeter tall work serves as practical storage for rings and an eye-catcher at the same time.
Because of her love of detail, no two of Courtney Hamill’s pieces look exactly alike. She owes her success to her time-consuming passion for porcelain – the young artist was nominated one of the top 15 home décor trendsetters in the Huffington Post.
The city of Meißen in the east of Germany is considered a stronghold of porcelain, one of the world’s most important sites for the manufacture of the precious material. It is home to the Duravit Meißen sanitary porcelain production site, one of the most modern ceramic factories in Europe. Those who ask about the difference between porcelain and ceramic should have a look at the composition – porcelain is made of kaolin, feldspar, and quartz. Also it’s translucent. On the other hand, the main component of ceramic products is clay, followed by quartz, feldspar, and kaolin.