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Vanitas Vanitatum

This collection explores the transience of beauty and the vulnerability of excess. Inspired by the melancholy opulence of 17th century Dutch vanitas paintings, and the tragic allure of Dickens' Satis House, I aim to capture the fragile moment when abundance turns to decay.


An exuberance of decoration disrupts the vases' forms, implying deterioration and ruin. Frozen in time as disintegration begins, the vases represent an ornamental memento mori, hinting at the impermanence of material existence and the inevitable decline of beauty.

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Tamsin van Essen
Ceramicist London, United Kingdom