These Porcelain Ceramics Are Made Whole With a Needle and Thread

Ceram­ics and embroi­dery might seem like an unlike­ly com­bi­na­tion, but not for Car­o­line Har­rius. She forms dec­o­ra­tive vas­es, plates, and oth­er pieces from clay, also pok­ing tiny holes on the sur­face of each piece. These holes are the basis for stitch­ing after the piece is fired and done. Car­o­line uses thread to adorn each cre­ation with embroi­dered flo­ral motifs.

Based in Stock­holm, Car­o­line’s prac­tice looks to the his­to­ry of women and crafts in order to inform her work and also be the basis for encour­ag­ing soci­etal change. “In my prac­tice as an artisan/ceramicist, I have often been inter­est­ed in crafts tra­di­tion­al­ly linked to wom­en’s mak­ing, and how we val­ue it in today’s high-tech soci­ety,” she writes on her web­site.

“I have exam­ined my own prej­u­dices about art, and dis­cov­ered that the more a tra­di­tion or tech­nol­o­gy is linked to wom­en’s his­to­ry, home and dec­o­ra­tion, the low­er I have val­ued it. By com­bin­ing flo­ral dec­o­ra­tive porce­lain and embroi­dery, I make an attempt to high­light this cul­tur­al her­itage and make it vis­i­ble to a new audi­ence. I want to try to re-eval­u­ate the tra­di­tions asso­ci­at­ed with wom­en’s doing that I have most­ly seen as dec­o­ra­tion, both for myself and for others.”

Fol­low Car­o­line on Insta­gram to see what she’s work­ing on next.

Caroline Harrius creates ceramics and adorns them using a needle and thread.