A handmade espresso cup bought in Tortoise on Abbot Kinney, Los Angeles. The shop and exhibition space is owned by Taku and Keiko Shinomoto and it focuses on showcasing uniquely Japanese artworks and objects.

Crafted by nature and time. A detail on marble at Céline, Paris.

There is a 3,5 m long oak shelf in the back wall of our kitchen that is filled with handmade pottery – each piece is an individual, some styles we have more, some stand alone, sometimes we brake something, sometimes we get something new. I love having all the cups and bowls and utensils on show. Not only does this make them easy to use but the whole kitchen feels more real and alive.

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We need the handmade

“We need the handmade to balance the mind-numbingly similar machine-made things around us, things that can only ever express the efficiency and speed with which they were produced. Craft makes our homes more human. We sense the time, care and skill that went into the making. Like life in its slow accumulation of experience, a crafted piece is an expression of the daily moods of the maker during its creation. It speaks of the concentration and love with which the object was made. It can be sensual, intricate, full of sentiment – and imperfect. It carries the imprint of the hands that made it.”

Quote from the book Home is where the heart is? by Ilse Crawford.