Kate Brewer, founder of Look Like Love, profiles a different new designer every week. With the tagline “support, nurture, promote” echoing confessions of a design geek’s own “discover, champion and inspire” and a similar commitment to advocating for emerging talent, the parallels between Look Like Love and confessions of a design geek are clear. Watch out for her features every Thursday afternoon. This week’s designer? The East meets West influenced designer Eva Radulova…
When craft is mentioned in a creative context, it is often associated with artisan endeavours, bespoke pieces and one-off detailing. Not so for Eva Radulova – her focus is not only on developing her craft, but also on establishing a business, allowing her to mass produce her designs, while maintaining the hand-crafted appeal, something that is pivotal to her design process. Ever since experimenting with clay in her art classes at school, she knew that ceramic was the medium for her. Having focused her studies on ceramics and fine art at university, there was nowhere else but the British home of pottery Stoke-on-Trent to hone her skills and complete her master’s degree.
The balance between craft and mass production has played an important role in Eva’s developing practice. Concentrating on everyday objects, using both traditional techniques and reinvention, the distinctive vessels that comprise her graduate collection were born. Her small, delicate jugs and cups with their layered ceramic bases were originally intended for Sake. Japanese culture plays an important role across the whole collection, from noodle bowls to sushi trays, so her eye for detail is crucial.
Eva talked me through the importance of the shapes she uses, with geometric forms meeting more organic pieces, as well as eastern influences meeting west, and traditional shapes meeting contemporary requirements, as the use of everyday pieces has adapted and changed over time. Eva is keen to point out that although she references eastern influences in her work, that the pieces are adaptable for western cuisine too.
There’s a subtlety in the details that you only notice on closer inspection, for example the sushi tray dips away in one corner to allow the user to dictate how much soy sauce they use. Her colour palette is also key in creating the contemporary aspect of her collection – she has spent time with the potteries in Stoke to achieve just the right shades from dark grey all the way through to bone china white.
Although Eva has a very clear vision of her business, trademarking ‘Eradu Ceramics’ as a brand even before graduating, it is still very much a work in progress. Like the majority of new designers I meet and talk to, finding the right time to launch a collection to the buying public is often a daunting decision. Eva has spent a great deal of time understanding her business, her competitors, and building a relationship with the potteries she works with, as well as selecting key events to promote herself and her portfolio of work to date.
Having an understanding of your craft is key to making a successful career out of it, and for Eva, dipping her toe into the world of mass-produced, yet sympathetic design means she is one step closer to achieving her dream, and seeing Eradu Ceramics as a brand to rival some of our high street favourites.
To find out more about Eva Radulova, and to purchase pieces from her collection visit Look Like Love.
Further reading for the especially geeky:
- look like love :: sophie cobb
- look like love :: tom hutchinson
- look like love :: emma buckley
- Look Like Love launches talent search for new designers
