Tamsin van Essen

This artist is a British ceramicist who does some very interesting concept work based on scientific, medical and social historic themes. I found her "Vanitas" project particularly beautiful (probably because I'm very fond of swirls and squiggles), and here is her description for it:

Vanitas Vanitatum
A garniture of beauty and decay

This collection explores the transience of beauty and the vulnerability of excess. Inspired by the melancholy opulence of 17th century Dutch vanitas paintings, and the tragic allure of Dickens' Satis House, I aim to capture the fragile moment when abundance turns to decay.

An exuberance of decoration disrupts the vases' forms, implying deterioration and ruin. Frozen in time just as disintegration begins, the vases represent an ornamental memento mori, hinting at the impermanence of existence and the inevitable decline of beauty.