ReCinder x STUDIO PERRING - STRATA Reimagined

Dear Friends,  

Slightly bemused, yet fascinated all the same, we find ourselves observing the same phenomenon year after year - the summer months certainly pass faster than others. But despite their fleeting nature, we hope you did not let those long, warm days go unnoticed, turning them instead into a celebration of light and joy.

And as attention slowly shifts towards returning to routines we actually enjoy, we hope you feel well rested, recuperated and ready for what comes next. There is certainly plenty happening in London this September.

Over the past months, we have been somewhat quiet on the surface, but quite the opposite has been true behind the scenes.

We have been developing collaborations, advancing our own material innovations and carefully expanding HOST's distinctive collection of objects designed from existing resources. Needless to say, we have been itching to finally start sharing what has been happening - and there is much to come over the weeks ahead. 

To begin, we are proud to share the latest chapter of a collaboration with one of our favourite ceramicists, whose work we personally collect - the London-based Graham Perring of Studio Perring.

Graham is a ceramic artist whose work is primarily hand-built, giving him greater control over the distribution of materials and allowing him to create the sense of fragility and delicacy so distinctive to his work.

Our collaboration with Graham began last year, but we have now taken it an important step further.

Every piece in this new collection carries the memory of another life. By recreating his signature collection STRATA, using ReCinder, Graham has produced the first collection of objects made outside our own studio using our innovative material, developed from locally sourced, vitrified ceramic waste. 

Sculptural yet fully functional, the vessels are left unglazed externally and finished with rubbed iron oxide, while the interiors are coated in a matt black glaze. The distribution of material - transitioning from heavily grogged, coarse dark clay to a lighter flecked body, creates variations unique to every piece.

By interpreting ReCinder through his own unmistakable language of form, surface and texture, Graham has created a limited collection with a raw, contemporary character and a much, much reduced impact on the environment. 

Ceramics are often considered sustainable because of their extraordinary durability – an incredible quality that also makes them notoriously difficult to recycle. Yet their production remains heavily dependent on virgin raw materials that take thousands of years to form, require considerable energy to process and fire, and often travel significant distances before reaching the manufacturer.

For those curious to dig deeper into ceramics, Kevin Millward’s Ceramics: A Green Approach draws on decades of experience to reveal how ceramics are really made - and why every choice along the way matters.

Handcrafted in London E10 using 88% ReCinder and just 12% new clay, the STRATA collection reduces the use of virgin material substantially while keeping its logistical footprint to a minimum. In some ways, it returns to a traditional model of making, when potters worked closer to the source of their raw materials. Yet,  there is something distinctly forward-looking about it too - the raw material is no longer virgin clay extracted from the ground, but existing fired ceramics given an entirely new purpose. 

The collection also demonstrates something we have believed from the beginning - that working with reclaimed resources never needs to compromise quality, aesthetics, creativity or character. 

Quite the opposite. It creates entirely new possibilities.

Importantly for us, STRATA is a physical demonstration of an approach to ceramic production traditionally considered impossible. Could this smallest of beginnings lead to an extraordinary story? That remains to be seen, but one thing is certain – it is asking us to reconsider what waste really is.
And this is only where September begins for us.

Over the coming weeks, we will be introducing new objects and collaborations, sharing further developments from ReCinder and bringing you more of the materials, makers and ideas that continue to shape HOST.
 
As always, thank you for following, supporting and believing in what we are building. We look forward to sharing what comes next.
 
With love,
 
HOST xx