WORKWEAR is our monthly feature in which we explore the traditions and symbolism of clothing and footwear worn in practical environments through conversations with local artists, craftspeople and designers.
LIV & DOM | CERAMICISTS | LEWES
Tell us a bit about your craft: how it’s evolved over the years and what it means to you to be a maker?
We started as kitchen table makers, straight out of University (we graduated with illustration degrees about 10 years ago). In our post-university quandary, the only thing we both knew was that we would probably be happiest in our working lives if we kept making as much as possible. It took years of late nights and living with our mum to make our craft pay the bills...
We taught ourselves how to work with ceramics, exploring what could be done in clay around our core theme of nude figures. It started with a little nude incense holder that got our names out there, but now we are making candlesticks, vases, plates and platters, soap dishes, wall sconces, and more.
More recently we've started to weave our passions for decorative art and crafts, history and nature more thoroughly into our art. Over the years we've definitely intensified the intricacy and boldness of our decoration, and become more adventurous with the scale and complexity of the work we create.
Being a maker takes up a lot of space in our lives, and bleeds into everything we do, including how we dress! We can't imagine a life without making.
What does “workwear” mean to you?
We tend to think of the clothes we work in as an extension of our creativity. While robust, comfortable and practical clothes are important for certain jobs, a lot of our clothes are decorative and fussy, just like our artwork. We'll wear these even though they aren't typical workwear. Our kind of 'workwear' reflects the colour, texture and pattern that can be found in our work, and we don't mind getting these dirty either, that's all part of it!
What do you wear to the studio every day? Do you have a beloved and battered work uniform or do you like to dress up differently to make your artwork?
Most days we wear our regular clothes, which consists mainly of finds from vintage shops and Vinted. We have quite a feminine, old fashioned style, we love a folksy pattern, waistcoats, embroidery, lace, ruffles etc. We're like magpies for unique vintage bargains, we have a bit of a retail problem if we're being totally honest, but we foolishly tell ourselves it's part of our jobs as artists.
If we're doing particularly messy jobs in our studio basement, or are feeling a bit low we usually wear what we call our 'potato sack' dresses (think long, shapeless, linen) and boots that we don't mind getting covered in clay.
We both have matching, well worn, cross back linen aprons with big pockets that we wear every day.
