helen jones pandanus lights

approximate size: height 25 cm x width 13cm

helen is currently making light shades with southern ice porcelain. the porcelain is fired to a high temperature that maximises the translucency of the ceramic material.

the surface of the raw, unglazed porcelain has a velvet, skin-like quality in daylight, when the lamps are not lit. illuminated with an incandescent bulb, the quality of the light is not unlike parchment. in the kiln at very high temperatures, porcelain melts, before cooling and forming the crystalline structures that give it its strength and translucency. as a result, there is always some variation in each piece.