At the AD Home Show, there were lots of artists displaying their work, and two ceramic designers in particular caught my eye. The first is Jerilyn Virden, who I met several years ago when I worked for a gallery that represented her work. She creates hollow and double-walled ceramic vessels with multiple layers of glaze that feel like rough or smooth stone. dbO Home — founded by David and Dana Brandwein Oates — also references the natural world, with ceramic surfaces that contain the light imprint of leaves and flowers.

Both artists have a weight to their work that's inherent in their material choices — they draw attention to the clay as an element of the earth (as opposed to someone who works in high-gloss porcelain, which tends to make a ceramic piece feel more like a lacquered, non-natural object).

Jerilyn Virden lives and works in Mitchell County, North Carolina, with her husband, a glass-maker. (His vases make a cameo in the photos above). She's a former artist in residence at the Penland School of Craft, and she has studied ceramics in Texas, New Mexico, Virginia, and China.

David and Dana Brandwein Oates have a home and studio in Litchfield County, New York. Dana is a potter, while David makes the burl oak tables shown above.

MORE INFORMATION
• Jerilyn Virden Ceramics
• Jerilyn Virden at Ann Nathan Gallery
• DB Glassworks
• dbO Home
• DBO Home Profile on Apartment Therapy Re-Nest

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