One of our best-loved pieces, now in a medium size. Fern Taylor hand-builds each Swan Vase using nerikomi, a traditional Japanese technique of layering coloured clays so the pattern runs all the way through the piece rather than sitting on the surface. Nothing is painted on. Every line and every shift of colour is clay itself, built up slowly and revealed as the form takes shape.

The swan motif is unmistakable, and the transparent crackle gloss glaze gives the whole piece a soft depth and shine. Fern trained as a painter before moving into ceramics, and you can see it here, in the sense of colour, composition and pattern that runs through everything she makes.

Because of the nature of nerikomi, no two are ever the same. The pattern on your vase will be entirely its own, shaped by the unpredictability of the process, which is rather the point.

The same swan, on a slightly smaller scale. Also available in the original large size.

The details

• Hand-built stoneware, nerikomi technique
• Transparent crackle gloss glaze
• Medium size, approx. 21cm wide x 15cm high x 6cm deep
  
• Each piece is unique, so yours will vary from the one photographed
• Made by Fern Taylor in Deptford, London