a visit to studio sediment
picture credits: home & fleur studio
with their beautiful and unique ceramics it is no wonder that we have been a fan of studio sediment for many years, and recently we even launched a collaboration with our very own colourful two tone cups. in order to show you what goes into the production of the collab x studio sediment collaboration, we went behind the scenes and spent the morning in the creative studio to film the process for you.
we took the tram to beckenhof, walked up the street to laurenzgasse and entered a small courtyard where the quaint studio is located. upon entering the studio we were greeted by marcel, the founder of studio sediment, who gave us a warm welcome (literally) and prepared a delicious cappuccino for us - the morning was off to a great start!
dyeing the porcelain
our cups are made from colourful porcelain so the first step is to dye the porcelain: lilac, orange, dark green, pink, dark blue and orange. the porcelain is dyed using pigments that are carefully weighed and combined together using a specific formula for each colour. once marcel had combined the pigments he then mixed in water to create a paste. each colourful paste is mixed with the porcelain, which creates the dyed porcelain.
pouring the porcelain
the two toned cups are made by pouring the dyed porcelain into a casting mould. the mould is made of gypsum which provides the porcelain with a surface to grip on to. marcel poured the outer layer of dyed porcelain into the casting mould and filled it to the brim and let the porcelain settle for a few minutes. then he poured the leftover porcelain out and we were left with the a thin outer layer of the cup. next, marcel poured the second layer of dyed porcelain into the mould with the thin outer layer of porcelain. this time the porcelain was left to settle for longer, and when we questioned why, marcel explained that porcelain takes longer to grip on to porcelain than it does to gypsum - fascinating! then, once the left over porcelain was poured out of the mould we were left with two layers of differently coloured porcelain in the mould. the cup was slowly forming and we were so excited. once again, marcel explained that the porcelain needed to be left to dry for a bit in the mould so we left the moulds alone for a bit and explored the studio with its many cool projects.
de-moulding the cups
once the cup has set and is dry to the touch it is time to remove them from the casting mould. marcel gently tapped the mould and slipped the greenware cup out. the next step is smoothing the edges by hand with a sponge. the final step is the custom stamp on the bottom of the cup which marks the studio sediment x collab zurich collaboration.
firing and glazing
now the cups are almost ready for their first round of firing (bisque firing) - the initial firing of clay before glazing. during bisque firing, pottery pieces are loaded into a kiln and gradually heated to temperatures typically ranging from around 900°C to 1060°C. once the bisque firing is complete and the kiln has cooled, the cups are ready for the application of glazes. after glazing, the cups undergo a second firing, known as the glaze firing, which melts the glazes into a glassy surface and permanently seals the cup's body.
all of these steps are done by hand in marcel's studio and takes a lot of care and attention to detail. we are so lucky to have this collaboration with studio sediment on top of their beautiful and timeless pieces that we offer in store.
