Cone 11 Ceramics + Design Studio

Thanks to Chef’s Hat Chef's Hat for making my niece’s 17th birthday, and her first visit to this hospitality institution, one to remember — complete with her very own personalised chef’s whites and apron. 👩‍🍳

Hospitality is a tough industry, and for women, there can be an extra set of challenges to navigate. But it’s also an industry full of opportunity, creativity, incredible people and the chance to build a career doing something you genuinely love.

Places like Chef’s Hat, as a hospitality store, can make such an impression on young people. Seeing the products, meeting the people and feeling that connection to the industry can be the spark that turns “that looks exciting” into “I could do this.”

A special thank you to General Manager Will Harris, who has always understood the importance of human connection and the difference that making someone feel welcome, seen and encouraged can make. The personalised whites were entirely Will’s idea and were so generously gifted by the Chef’s Hat team.

It’s these little moments that can make a big impression — and perhaps even help a young person see a future for themselves in an industry that has so much to offer.

Here’s hoping this is the first of many adventures in hospitality. ❤️

Watching cups dry.

Whole fish, oval plate. Côte Basque. Check out our earlier video to see how@we turned a round plate oval-ish.

So I’ve finally managed to get the shape right for the fish sauce fermentation containers for Anchovy.

I’ve stopped calling them onggi because they aren’t really a traditional onggi shape. They’re onggi-adjacent in their construction and will be fired a little hotter than a traditional onggi firing.

A huge thank you to everyone at Amfora Studio who has put up with me monopolising two wheels for the past week while I squeezed these in between making 300 pieces for Côte Basque. To say it’s been an intense week would be an understatement.

Now comes the next challenge—working out the surface.

I’m leaning towards a white liner slip on the inside, or a white silica matte glaze. If anyone has a glaze recipe they want to share, hit me up. The outside is where I’d like to keep things connected to place: a traditional 50/50 blend of wood ash from the restaurant’s wood-fired stove and locally dug terracotta that’s been dried, processed, and turned into glaze.

There’s something fitting about a vessel carrying traces of the kitchen it’s made for. Now it’s time to make some test tiles and see if the kiln gods agree.

Baked custard .

The ’70s called. They want their aesthetic back. I said no — I’m keeping it.

It’s a New Dawn.
It’s a New Day.
It’s a New Commission for me.

And I’m feeling good.