This ceramic flower bowl, handcrafted from stoneware clay, is given a light and elegant aesthetic through its narrow base and wide opening. The organically cut and compressed opening form are evocative of an opening petal, an impression that is further enhanced by floral pattern sprayed on the ceramic glaze using the glaze-on-glaze technique. Christine Ruff used an old knitted tablecloth as a template. The bowl was shaped using a casting process and while the clay was still malleable, Christine pressed it together and cut the curved edged shape.
Length 45 cm
Width 32 cm
Height 25 cm
©Sala Seddiki
©Sala Seddiki
©Inga Schnebel
©Inga Schnebel
©Sala Seddiki
Christine Ruff
- Ceramicist
- Wuppertal, Germany
- Master Artisan
- Recommended by Zentralverband des Deutschen Handwerks
Contact
German
Hours:
By appointment only
By appointment only
Phone:
+49 (0)1776518101
+49 (0)1776518101
©Inga Schnebel
The art of self-expression
- • Christine creates unique ceramic vessels
- • She focuses on form before function
- • Her sources of inspiration are found everywhere
At the age of 17 Christine Ruff started an apprenticeship as a ceramics painter for underglaze painting in a company with about 300 employees doing piece-work. She recalls, “It was clear to me that I didn't want to grow old there”. Therefore, she continued her education at the renowned technical school for ceramic design in Höhr Grenzhausen: “It allowed me to understand the fundamentals of ceramics, both in theory and in practice, it was a very creative time”. At the end of the 1990s Christine joined the studio of sculptor Tony Cragg in Wuppertal. “During these years I was able to enhance my sensitivity for forms and I came into contact with many new materials”. The traces of that time can still be found in the sculptural expression and functional structure that still characterizes Christine's work today.
Read the full interviewWorks
Photo: ©Sala Seddiki
Flower bowl
Photo: ©Sala Seddiki
Carafes
These three carafes are hand cast from stoneware clay and fired at 1230 °C. The vessels are built from variations of the same basic forms, such as a cylinder, sphere, and cone. A hemisphere and cylinder give the initial shape of the carafes and cut cones, assembled in different ways, serve as a spout, a handle and a lid. The lid can also be used as a small drinking cup. They are glazed with a glossy transparent glaze on the inside and matte glaze in green-blue pastel shades on the outside.
Height 25 cm
Diameter 10 cm
Photo: ©Sala Seddiki
Goblet trio
These three hand cast stoneware vessels represent a transformation of form in height and width. The lowest bowl has the most expansive opening, the highest the narrowest. The bowls become a unit by their consistent feet and waist, as well as the olive-green exterior glaze. Their interior is nuanced through the different colourings of the glaze, from mint to petrol, which highlights the different openings of the goblet bowls.
Height 21 cm
Diameter 16 cm
Photo: ©Sala Seddiki
Pitcher, cup and mug
The idea behind the design of this hand cast stoneware pitcher, cup and mug was to build 2 from 1. Christine Ruff takes a vase, divides it exactly into two parts, and gets a cup and goblet. The openings of the cup and goblet correspond to the widest circumference of the pitcher. The standing surface is the same for all three shapes.
Height 21 cm
Diameter 10.5 cm
Photo: ©Sala Seddiki
Double bowl
The formal attraction of the double bowl, a hand cast stoneware bowl, lies in its connected two forms. Due to the two narrow bases, each of the same diameter, and different sized openings, the vessel appears light and elegant, almost as if in a state of suspension, and is more reminiscent of a sculptural object than a vessel.
Length 60 cm
Width 45 cm
Height 25
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