Collectible ceramics: new designers' all-white porcelain pieces to be treasured for aesthetics as much as functionality

High-end London design shows form a cultural barometer highlighting the most coveted, collectable pieces.

So it was fascinating to see visitors magnetised by the pure white ceramics shown by Vessel Gallery in Notting Hill during the Collect art fair and by dealer Adrian Sassoon at this summer’s Masterpiece show in Chelsea.

Increasingly prized by collectors, these ceramics are decorative pieces to treasure as much for aesthetics as functionality.

Refreshingly, the focus is not on colour but on a magical alchemy of form, texture and decoration. Perfect for displaying summery blooms, they also look and feel enchanting without flowers. Why? Because their maker’s hand and heart are viscerally evident.

Take the work of London-based Amy Hughes. This Royal College of Art graduate specialises in hand-building vessels that highlight the clay’s rich surface texture. She then applies eye-catching decoration referencing Sèvres porcelain from the late 17th and 18th centuries in a lively, contemporary way.

“I have a romance with my medium,” says Hughes. “I adore its natural qualities, its memory capabilities and the possibilities it allows.” Her Forget-me-Not collection starts from £2,400 at Vessel Gallery.

Another RCA graduate, Japan-born Hitomi Hosono, draws inspiration from nature for her meticulously hand-carved, porcelain vessels. Her epiphany came during an artistic residency at Wedgwood where she developed a technique inspired by the Jasperware pioneered by Josiah Wedgwood more than 200 years ago.

First I design a leaf or flower sprigs by studying organic, botanical forms,” she says. “After making models I press-mould hundreds of leaves in porcelain and patiently carve the finer details. Then I apply the porcelain leaves densely in layers on to a form thrown on a potter’s wheel.”

The chalky exterior of Hosono’s pieces is sometimes complimented by lustrous gold-leaf interiors as in her Grape bowl £4,300 from Adrian Sassoon. Large pieces can take 18 months to complete — hence high prices — but as Hosono’s work features in the V&A and British Museum, collectors can rest assured of its value.

Roses, hydrangeas, daisies and dahlias are among flowers that inspire London-based ceramicist Vanessa Hogge. Like Hosono, she painstakingly sculpts every petal by hand then fires the porcelain at high temperatures to create ornate vessels in bone-white tones.

Her tactile, organic pieces such as Daisy bowl, £4,500, and Daphne vase, £6,250, are available at Vessel.

The natural process of growth and decay fascinates ceramicist Olivia Walker who trained under renowned potter, Julian Stair.

Her layered, complex pieces start as unformed clay thrown on the wheel. Then thousands of paper-thin porcelain shards are individually applied to the form whose textured surface grows organically like coral or fungi.

These engaging, one-off pieces start from £1,200 at Vessel.

Ceramicist Andrew Wicks treats his thrown and hand-carved porcelain pieces like a painterly still-life, grouping together three or more forms (set of three vases, £3,000 at Adrian Sassoon).

The patterns of fossils, corals or plant forms often inspire their faceted, textured surfaces and he praises porcelain’s “purity of colour” and “material refinement”.

As gallerist Sassoon observes: “Allowing the porcelain to speak for itself, without painting and glazing, has a very strong appeal.”