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June/July 2018 issue of American Craft magazine
Author Staff
Jean Jullien Bill The Book-End Napper

Jean Jullien, Bill The Book-End Napper

Case Studyo

Elizabeth Benotti, who became a full-time ceramist in 2010, describes her life in making as a blur of hard work and deep friendship. The New Hampshire artist’s brick-patterned dining plates speak to both elements of her experience. Their hand-painted pattern suggests get-your-hands-dirty work; in their elegant form, they invite friends to share food and stories.

The brainchild of San Francisco industrial designer Andrew Perkins, Fire Road combines a modern design sensibility with rustic materials. To add a dose of these elements to your home, the Plane Wall Hooks make for a great start. Laser-cut steel supports wooden dowels from sustainably managed forests; the piece is available in stark white, leafy green, and subtle gray. 

Richmond, Virginia, maker Cathy G. Vaughn inherited tools from her father and grandfather, which she uses to create copper work for her shop, Tracery 157. The designs, though, are all her own. Her style combines classic and contemporary, as in the winding curves of her Dancing Candlestands, which come in oil-detailed, verdigris, or flame-painted finishes. 

Hope + Mary takes its name from artist-owner Hope Bailey and her mother, Mary; although Mary died in 2011, the special creative bond the two shared lives on. The maker, from Chattanooga, Tennessee, uses mishima, a Korean technique, for her ceramic tableware decorated with lovely, detailed images of the natural world. Her Rabbit Whiskey Cup is equally at home on a bar top or a picnic blanket. 

Case Studyo’s mission is to make art-world trends accessible to the purchasing public, collaborating with internationally renowned artists and makers to bring their visions to life in fine art, furniture, and other functional pieces. French-born, London-based Jean Jullien’s Bill the Book-End Napper is based on Jullien’s larger sculptures; in its smaller form, it enlivens a bookshelf with laid-back whimsy. 

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