Image: Is that Plastic? by Yoyo Ceramics. Photo: R Watkins

 

Is that Plastic? is the debut range by Yoyo Ceramics. Helen Johannesen has pulled off one of the wittiest, most honest reproductions of a modern classic to date, and made it her own.

Inspired by an infamously utilitarian kitchen product, Yoyo Ceramics’ combination of art and function has borrowed the form of a post-war household favourite that gave rise to a suburban domestic phenomenon and reinvented it as useable ceramic art. Cool fresh glazes give these cast earthenware products a bold, modern look, and a perfect update of a retro classic with a mythology of its own.

“My idea was to capture the plastic quality of a peeling lid in ceramics,” says Helen. This defining feature graces every item of the range, from Jam/Mustard, to Egg Box and Bowl/Plate.

After studying Ceramics at Middlesex University, Helen took up mould making, then became a model maker at Shepperton film studios. Those were the skills she wanted to combine to make her signature range of homeware ceramic products unique.

Without wishing to reproduce empty boxes, she started shaping their insides to suggest function, like bringing up the levels of the base and creating recesses to hold eggs. There’s an element of surprise that gives these objects a sculptural quality, simply lacking from a plastic sandwich box. Other details are nicely rethought, like creating a lid for bowl that can be used as a plate.

“Behind my thinking was the fact that the plastics industry squashed a lot of traditional traditional ceramic methods,” says Helen. “It seemed a shame that a whole craft has gone.”

“There’s also this misconception that ceramics are fragile and not so durable as plastic, whereas in fact, in 50 years time a piece of plastic could be unrecognisable, while a piece of ceramic still retains its original character. It’s a much more permanent material.”

Helen designs everything three dimensionally, making her models straight in plaster and never working from paper. She has been a ceramic artist for eight years working from her Finsbury Park studio, London and she also tutors students in 3D Design at Buckinghamshire University. Is that Plastic? is manufactured by Coral Ceramics in Stoke-on-Trent.

“There’s a cleanliness to my work, but it’s also a bit quirky,” she says before laughing. Is that Plastic? is definitely one range to keep out of the cupboard and smile about.

 

September 2003