Collection of Small British Ceramics

The selection of British ceramics displayed in this new Objectspace Vault installation complements a larger New Zealand collection. It's challenging to understand the cultural isolation that prevailed here as recently as twenty years ago. Despite popular enthusiasm, local knowledge of international crafts was limited; this showed in the work of local potters who, with notable exceptions, often seemed stuck in an Anglo-Oriental time warp.

Fiona Thompson's collection was formed against this tendency and on a shoestring budget, with pieces more often than not acquired from the makers themselves. Their size reflected a need for portability with a prime consideration being what could be carried without causing the airport scales to trip into excess.

While there are a number of formal moments that characterise the collection, its significance lies in the condition of its formation. It reflects the taste of someone who, despite a limited budget, import and currency restrictions and a dominance of the New Zealand ceramics market by the dross of Staffordshire, developed a discerning sense of the modern, whether international or local, industrial or hand-made.

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