Meditative design: inside ceramicist Honor Weatherall’s creation process

Weatherall’s first personal project is her own home in London, which she continues to work on whenever time allows. The process has become an intimate extension of her ongoing dialogue between restraint and warmth. “It’s the first thing I’m designing entirely on my own,” she says. “It’s not strictly minimal, but it isn’t maximal either. It’s an interesting middle ground.” Deeply personal, the home reflects her evolving sensibility and style. She loves adding familiar touches that bring life into the rooms: pictures on walls, plates on display, bowls on tables.

The balance between austerity and intimacy defines her approach. “I love empty spaces with beautiful light”, she says, “but I also love objects that carry memory. Things you’ve picked up along the way, they add character.” The memories and associations tied to these objects give them profound meaning, which they reflect when added to your space. In exploring the way experience is tied with beautiful pottery designs, Weatherall emulates the spirit of Edmund De Waal’s works, which are often touched by themes of memory, nostalgia and stillness.

Weatherall’s interest in pottery is heavily Asian-influenced. Born and raised in Hong Kong, she grew up surrounded by Asian ceramics, bowls filled with trinkets, and shelves crowded with artefacts her parents collected during their years in the Far East. “They’re full-on maximalists”, she laughs, “but I think that love for beautiful, functional objects stayed with me.”

That expression lies not in decoration but in detail is a belief held by Weatherall. “People often equate expression with ornamentation, but I think it’s in the textures, the light, the material,” she says. “Different woods, stones, grains: they all evoke different feelings. With minimalism, expression is controlled. It’s less obvious, but it’s there if you pay attention.”

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The nuanced choices made for each detail make the finished product feel more intentional, hence injecting more meaning to the existence of each piece. Weatherall tries to honour the sensitivity of ceramic vessels and how they shape and respond to light, space and atmosphere, referencing the reflections of Jun’ichiro Tanizaki, author of In Praise of Shadows, a 1933 essay that the artist has returned to over the years, which has shaped her design practice as well.

She describes these reflections as resonating closely with the principles of wabi-sabi, which is an appreciation of imperfection, transience and tranquillity. In line with this, Weatherall allows each piece to possess its own quiet character or emotional presence in her works.

A trip to Japan further deepened her fascination. “I went to all these incredible ceramic shops and became obsessed,” she recalls. “The beauty and imperfection of Japanese pottery really influenced me. When I started my first class, I just wanted to learn how to make those bowls.”

The work of Kakuso Okakura explores themes that resonate deeply with Weatherall. She thinks that the interplay of how ceramics engage with their surroundings fosters a sense of harmony and balance that echoes the broader Japanese concept of ma, or the meaningful space or pause between things. It reminds her of the importance of finding beauty even in the simplest of forms.

Today, her designs carry that discreet ethos: forms that celebrate imperfection, glazes that shift between gloss and matt, black and white, soft and reflective. She explores producing irregularities like tears and warps not unlike those found in Yamashita Kimitoshi’s work, one of her great inspirations. In her own studio, her shelves are lined with an evolving collection of pieces. When arranged together, the pieces hum with harmony. “I was nervous that they’d look mismatched,” she admits. “When I laid them all out, I realised I’d been subconsciously creating a family of objects.”

Professionally, she may be designing on a macro scale, pavilions and private homes. In her own home, she has taken on a somewhat micro approach, literally crafting small vessels. Both are acts of shaping space, one expansive, the other intimate. “What I’ve learnt from John Pawson is how to make things feel considered but unforced,” she says. “That’s what I want in everything I create, for it to feel fluid, natural, like it’s always belonged.” This guided and quiet intention indicates and reflects mindfulness, a reminder that simplicity isn’t emptiness but space for calm to exist.

In the end, her home, her architecture and her pottery all share one pursuit: clarity through simplicity. “I think minimalism can be meditative,” she reflects. “It’s about creating spaces and moments that let you breathe.” 

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