Brett Stern,
Ceramic artist

I am an inventor/maker of things. Have a background in industrial design and ceramics. With this line of ashtrays, I got to combine my varied skill-sets with a mishmash of design references from mid-century modern to pop to atomic art. My design beliefs are that objects have more intrinsic value when they are handmade and they should always be brightly colored. There is nothing digital about the making process, no 3D printing involved and the ashtrays require no charging cable. They are objects that want to be seen and more importantly, always ready to be used. My ceramic work rotates between creating traditional pottery, to designing production pieces, to technical investigation of the material and allied processing. I love the texture, the smell and the bright red-hot flame from any style of kiln. Though, clay is a primitive material, my approach combines my industrial design background to explore the technical aspects of the process with the aesthetic and hands-on craft side of the material. Some days I’m covered with mud and sometimes I’m reading chemistry books. I take the knowledge I have about production and design problem solving techniques and merge them with methods I’ve learned from product prototyping in other mediums to create work that has a unique perspective and colorful outcome. X www.brettstern.com/clay