With ties to both Italy and Australia, designer Elise Eales seeks to create a range of objects to connect with ourselves, surroundings, and the people most dear. Handmade ceramics, jewellery and other special pieces that bestow an instant sense of calm, transporting the beholder to a jagged Mediterranean coastline … the ocean lapping at the soft pebbles beneath their feet. Warm, welcoming and with a penchant for blue, we talk the power of this tranquil shade, and why it connects so well with heart and home.
M+E: You use blue in a lot of your pieces, what is it about the colour that speaks to you?
EE: For me, blue evokes feelings of the Mediterranean, of faraway coastlines, adventures and simple evenings chatting with friends over al fresco dinners. It’s a colour that creates a gentle contrast but always stands out in its surroundings.
M+E: Why is blue a positive colour choice to incorporate throughout the home, and particularly, at the dinner table?
EE: The colour blue brings a little of the outside in, like making the sky or sea tangible. Using these objects within the everyday adds intention and joy in our regular routines.
M+E: Why do you feel the colour lends itself so easily to the hand-crafted nature of your ceramic designs?
EE: So many variables are at play when making the ceramics. The clay, glazes and firing all play a part. The pigment I use is mixed by hand and painted onto the pieces. This can result in thick brushstrokes, drips or tonal variations but it is exactly these that manifest personality in each piece.
EXPLORE DI LUNEDI
“Finding blue in nature is actually quite rare with very few plants or animals in the colour.”
M+E: Favourite blue item you own?
EE: A pair of cornflower blue velvet shoes I brought back from Venice, and of course my cat Bea. She’s a beautiful little British Blue.
M+E: Your favourite shade of blue and why?
EE: Probably Ultra Marine, variations of the colour were repeatedly used by mid-century artists such as Picasso, Matisse and Joan Miró. I am constantly inspired by this genre and how they mixed both colours and mediums in individual ways.
M+E: Something people may not know about the colour blue.
EE: Finding blue in nature is actually quite rare with very few plants or animals in the colour.
