Peter Lane

With installations the world over and an impressive clientele made up of leading designers and architects, Peter Lane has imbued modern pottery with new life. Finding his calling in ceramics relatively late in life, Lane has transcended the classic approach to pottery making and made himself known as a revolutionary in bas-relief. With pieces that act as both works of fine art and as anchors to interior spaces, Lane has set himself apart as the voice to listen to in the world of ceramics.

Lane’s work fuses the functional with the fine. His oeuvre boasts a wide breadth of small pottery tableware, furniture, fireplace surrounds, and monumental wall installations. In this way, Lane was heavily influenced by his experiences making ceramics in Japan early in his career. Noting that artists there see little difference between the practical and the decorative, he has taken this ideal to heart.

The key to this diversity of production is Lane’s process. With an intimate knowledge of the behavior of his clay, Lane is able to adjust his methods to precision for every project.

Keenly aware of his pieces’ technical challenges, Lane develops each of them pragmatically, at least at first. Beginning with a solid plan and drawing for each commission, he lets fly when it comes to forming the clay. Calling the process “performative,” Lane uses all manner of tools, not least of which his hands, to shape the clay spontaneously. After forming the clay according to the ideal of the moment, Lane applies any one of a palette of colorful glazes, including ones based on metals such as cobalt and bronze, that give his ceramics a uniquely metallic look.

Submitted by Maison Gerard