Designer Interview with Stephanie Phillips

Stephanie Phillips creates ceramics that look almost as if they were ancient artifacts uncovered from the future.

Based in Sydney, Australia, Stephanie creates hand formed vases, bowls, and lamps showcasing a compelling contrast of folk versus future. While some sculptural forms hint at mingei folk craft and totemic statues, others evoke the rugged flora of the Australian bush. Stephanie's pieces delve into a deep range of influences spanning various cultures and Australian nature, all rooted in a philosophy of continuous experimentation.

Growing up in suburban Sydney, Stephanie’s creative instincts were nurtured from a young age by her grandmothers. Her maternal grandparents lived 1.5 hours away in Pearl Beach, a small coastal suburb loved for its beautiful beaches and untouched landscape. Childhood holidays were spent surrounded by the lush national park bushland that her grandmother helped conserve, instilling a deep love of nature from an early age.

On the other side of the family, Stephanie’s paternal grandparents - Russian immigrants to Australia - played an influential role in teaching her the crafts that would shape her creative path. Her grandmother, a talented craftswoman, would pull out craft encyclopedias whenever Stephanie visited and together they passed time making brooches out of flour paste, which they would then paint and varnish; a clear nod to her future career.

‘Ceramics!

That's what I should be doing!’

Before finding her true calling, Stephanie would go on to explore a plethora of artistic mediums, including glass art, mosaics, fabric design, and printing. After graduating, she worked as a visual merchandiser and a film set dresser, working on blockbuster productions like The Matrix Reloaded and Moulin Rouge.

Then ceramics entered her life spontaneously.
One day a friend mentioned attending a ceramics class, and Stephanie immediately thought to herself, "Ceramics! That's what I should be doing!" It was a career switch that felt like a calling, arriving after an extensive journey of trialing different paths, it was yet another chapter in her life of continuous experimentation.

Stephanie launched her ceramics practice focusing on large-scale works. At the time most ceramicists in her orbit were creating smaller, wheel-thrown pieces. This distinct approach proved fruitful as early on in her career she was invited to exhibit at Paris Design Week 2019.

While exhibiting at the "1000 Vases" exhibition, Stephanie's work caught the eye of fashion designer Jacquemus, who purchased her entire display for his Parisian restaurant, Oursin. It was an unforgettable early milestone in her ceramics practice and a fitting introduction to the international stage!

Now, nearly a decade into her creative practice, Stephanie continues to embody this philosophy of discovery through experimentation.

When asked about her making process, Stephanie says that she often just 'starts'. Rarely planning the final dimensions rigidly, she prefers to work with an initial round base shape then seeing where the material takes her. As she sculpts, her diverse influences flow organically through her hands, channeling everything from the boldness of 1960s and 70s Italian and French ceramics to the subtle elegance of ikebana vessels.

Once these sculptural forms take shape, she shifts her focus to surface development. Stephanie's glazes span dramatically in both tone and texture; going from a rich, matte Klein blue to a highly reflective glossy bronze.

Yet, her most distinctive signature remains a heavily textured sand glaze. True to her embrace of the unexpected, this finish was actually born from a mistake when Stephanie accidentally purchased the wrong mesh size of silica sand. Through rigorous trial and error, Stephanie successfully stabilised the coarse particles within the glaze, making it a favourite glaze that is now one of her signatures.

Stephanie visited us at the JAU shop in June of this year. It was wonderful to meet her in person and get a firsthand look at some of her new incense holders in a fantastically punchy, crackled neon yellow.

Her creations never fail to leave us in awe so we’re thrilled to share her work with our community here in Japan. Please feel free to contact us at JAU with any enquiries!