Juxtapoz Art and Culture-Spring_2019

34 WINTER 2019

DESIGN

the other way around, like a rock in the river that

comes to life and looks up at you. My products are

closer to design than to children’s toys, which maybe

explains why I personally like character design that

is either hysterically sweet, border-lining insane, or

very dark and cruel. I have no interest in middle-of-

the-road cartoons featuring normal children or a

nice dog. Perhaps because I’m Danish I’m attracted to

simplicity; underplaying instead of overplaying, and

without lots of ornate decor. If the representation of a

face is very subtle, you can also add your own ideas

about who and what this character is.

Why do you think ceramics are so successful for

you? You work in many creative areas.

Because screens are boring and everything you

make on them is quickly forgotten, deleted and

defunct in a few years. I’ve been there—I spent 10

hours a day designing websites, banner ads, online

brandings and Flash animations for many years,

and it’s all gone here in 2019; all vanished into a

digital river and it will, for sure, never come back.

All those fun ideas, all that hard work—it’s like it

never happened. A ceramic bowl will exist forever—

at least longer than me or you. If you do good work,

it’s a physical item that can be used for many years

and give pleasure and function to people’s lives. Clay

can do anything. There are no limits. And if there

are, it’s a both creative and technical challenge to

break those limits and show what can be done.

I also really love the juxtaposition of character

design in clay, not plastic or metal. Clay can be super

smooth, pink porcelain or rustic, dark and evil black

stoneware with bubbling glazes and tactile surfaces.

The material takes the design to new levels and also

provides new problems, of course. You have to know

what you’re doing in order not to destroy what you

just made. But I always feel I know nothing. That

I haven’t even started to grasp the possibilities of

working in ceramics, and I’ve heard that’s basically

what all ceramicists believe.

Besides the local Danish influence, you also take

inspiration from Japan, where you studied, as

seen in your substantial Tokyo series. Which

parts of Japanese creative culture do you find

most influential?

I moved to Tokyo in 2005 to study the Japanese

language, and fell in love with the culture

immediately. To me, what’s interesting about

Japan is the intense meeting of old and new. Many

traditions are still alive and well, and respected

by the young generations—ancient arts and crafts,

cultural education and awareness of their own

Japanese history and heritage. But, at the same

time, you see incredibly new and creative ideas

borderlining the surreal and totally wacky. TV

commercials with pink rabbits eating a new snack

bar with squid, one hundred dancing bananas

on a train—so much fun and weirdness that

would never be produced in the West. I love that

wackiness and I find a lot of inspiration in it, that

it’s OK to remain fun and silly in our increasingly

serious and politically correct society.

Are there any common obsessions or interests

among your studio family recently?

Yes, we have been obsessing madly over our new

studio dog, a Frenchie puppy called Hanx (named

after the way Tom Hanks signs his tweets). She’s

making our daily life much more fun and full of

cuddly love.

We’re also excited that a new bike bridge opening

up across the harbor in Copenhagen. The entire

studio team bikes to work every day and it’s nice

that our city keeps being a great place to ride a bike.

In the studio, we’re very focused on finishing

up our upcoming Edo Series—the old name for

Tokyo before 1868. As opposed to our white

porcelain-based modern Tokyo Series, the Edo

will be an interpretation of old Japan, featuring

rough, course, pattern-carved stoneware and

expressive, rustic glazes. Our new cups are based

on the classic Yunomi shape but interpreted in our

design language with decorate elements—each

thrown piece is completely unique and quite

intense. We are excited to hear what people think!

How do you hope people feel when they

experience your work? They definitely increase

my enjoyment of domestic activity.

That’s definitely one of the goals! To smile when

your gaze lands on an item from our studio—that

you enjoy your morning coffee just a little bit

more when it’s in a bright yellow mug.

I also hope that people appreciate that the item was

made with two hands by a real human and not in a

machine, and that they want to invest in someone

working hard to throw, sculpt, bisque fire, glaze

and fire an item. It’s a long way from a lump of fresh

clay to an actual breakfast bowl.

Find Anders’ ceramics at studioarhoj.com and

at specialty stockists worldwide. San Francisco’s

Chronicle Books will release his latest children’s book

title, CATCH ME, on March 1, 2019.