Colorful Ceramics Inspired by Kitsch Ornaments Give These Figurines a New Story to Tell

Want to make your home a hap­pi­er one? Fill it with things that bring you joy! This is a no-brain­er by now, and the idea is one that ceram­i­cist and illus­tra­tor Nao­mi Ander­son-Sub­ryan thinks about as she cre­ates charm­ing objects—including her take on Stafford­shire dogs, ele­phant ves­sels, and duos like spaghet­ti and meatballs.

“I spend a lot of time look­ing at and col­lect­ing kitsch orna­ments, main­ly small ceram­ic ani­mal fig­ures col­lect­ed from the bric-a-brac sec­tions of char­i­ty shops,” she tells me. “I love the nar­ra­tive that aris­es from giv­ing these objects a new home and a new sto­ry.” Each piece is glossy and col­or­ful, and togeth­er, they high­light Naomi’s pen­chant for char­ac­ter design (espe­cial­ly in three dimensions).

“Cre­at­ing ceram­ics was some­thing that I got into in my final year at uni, and it quick­ly became a major part of my illus­tra­tion prac­tice,” she explains. “I have always cre­at­ed art­work that is three-dimen­sion­al, and before my ceram­ics came a tonne of over­sized paper mache sculptures.”

Nao­mi sells her work through her online shop, and she plans to ramp up pro­duc­tion of her ceram­ics as COVID-19 restric­tions begin to lift. See what she’s work­ing on next by fol­low­ing her on Insta­gram.