From film to ceramics
- Helen was previously a model maker in the film industry
- She likes that porcelain can be so thin, yet strong and voluminous
- She was presented with the HRH President Award for Industrial Ceramics 2020
Helen Johannessen is a ceramicist with very specific experience. Working in the film industry in the 90s, prior to her art and design work, showed her how much material waste was produced in large scale projects. Most of the models, handiwork and skilled craft ended up in a skip after the film shoots. It broke her heart to see how disposable our world is and such artistry being treated in this way. This ignited an idea to express a throw-away society using the natural and permanent material of ceramic. She created her first sculpted and designed collection, Is that Plastic?, in 2000. She set up a brand called Yoyo Ceramics, which make ironic, quirky, and colourful homeware. She created, among many interesting objects, the iconic Is that Plastic? Butter Dish and Ceramic Notepad. Since 2015 she focuses on works in porcelain, sculptural forms and wall art which consider light, tone and balance.
Interview
- When did you choose ceramics?
- At 16, I started an evening class in pottery and took a GSCE Art along with re-take students, so it was a short six-month period of what would normally be a two-year course. Having created a small portfolio, I got offered a place to follow a ceramic degree. I have never looked back.
- How did you start your career?
- Straight after graduating from university, I started working in a ceramic model and mould making studio in an old schoolhouse studio just off Brick Lane, London. In 1995, lots of creative types were hidden around the area since it was cheap and not so fashionable at the time. I learned a lot about the ceramic industry there.
- What is less known about porcelain?
- It can be made to feel as light as a feather – this became important to me after I suffered with a back condition resulting in surgery. I am absolutely fine now but am always aware of creating heavy things, either actual or visual, it makes me feel weighed down. Porcelain can be thin, yet strong and voluminous without using very much material at all.
- What is a memorable moment in your professional life?
- I was awarded the inaugural 2020 President Award from HRH Prince Charles (now King Charles III) for my career in industrial ceramics, my discipline was added to The Endangered Crafts Red List in 2019. To be acknowledged for the decades of working in an essentially male dominated industry, as a self-taught female and Londoner, I felt very proud.
Helen Johannessen is a master artisan: she began her career in 1995 and she started teaching in 1999
Where
Helen Johannessen
