porcelain cups and salt cellars by Austin Smith

Austin Smith is a studio potter working primarily in slip-cast porcelain. His most recent work incorporates screen-print decals of Penobscot Bay navigational charts made with lead-free ceramic ink. “The imagery is nostalgic for me…[it] reminds me of…summer time in Maine, learning how to read charts with my dad, and driving the launch at Wayfarer Marine as a summer job. The idea for a decaled bottom surface comes from wanting to integrate the bottom somehow into the user’s experience, and so it’s not just plain raw porcelain. When you are sitting across from someone, you catch a glimpse of the chart as they take a drink…”