Sandra Davolio

The striking vessels in Sandra Davolio’s Coral Flowers series can take the Copenhagen-based ceramist weeks to finish, due to the complexity and delicacy of their form and material. To create their signature shapes, Davolio first throws a simple interior vase or vessel on a wheel, then applies concentric layers of wet porcelain to the outside. Working by hand, she pinches and ruffles the porcelain into thin, almost translucent ridges that bear resemblance to the series’ namesake and inspiration: oceanic coral reefs. Coral Flower IV is made of frit porcelain, an extremely malleable type of porcelain that contains granules of crushed quartz and alkaline glass frit. These inclusions give the vessel a matte texture that appears gritty in some areas, recalling the feeling of shells and coral picked off a sandy beach.

In addition to the sea, Davolio has also long been inspired by art and objects from ancient Mediterranean cultures, including Greek, Roman, and Etruscan. The pure white porcelain of Coral Flower IV seems to glow from within, evoking the same luminosity as classical marble sculpture. This association is sadly appropriate on another level: although classical sculptures’ pristine whiteness has become synonymous with romantic misconceptions of antiquity, the sculptures were originally brightly painted. Time and environmental factors have degraded the colorful surfaces; in parallel, coral becomes white, or bleached, as a stress response. If the stressful changes in the environment, especially the fluctuating ocean temperatures caused by climate change, continue, bleached coral eventually dies. Between 2014 and 2017, more than 75 percent of the earth’s tropical reefs experienced bleaching.¹ Davolio’s meticulously crafted vessels, like Coral Flower IV, are a monument to the beauty and fragility of these vital ecosystems.

Kit Bernal