Design
Simone Bodmer-Turner
“Chair I”
Image courtesy of: Sight Unseen
Simone Bodmer-Turner grew up on both coasts… something that has greatly informed her work. In school, she studied literature with a focus on travel writing and art; however art took a backseat to cooking when she began to work for a farm-to-table sustainable food delivery startup called Good Eggs. During that time, Bodmer-Turner had the opportunity to take a number of ceramic classes. She also started to work at Choplet Ceramics Studio in Brooklyn.
When the gravitational pull towards ceramics proved too strong, Bodmer-Turner left her day job and spent time traveling in Japan and Oaxaca in order to “hone her craft.” Soon thereafter in 2018, she opened her own studio. Before long, the artist became known for her (courtesy of Sight Unseen), “looping, exaggerated jugs and vases with shapes vaguely reminiscent of traditional Meso-American carafes. But as she progressed, the forms became weirder, more amorphous.”
Two vessels that can work as vases.
Image courtesy of: This Is Glamorous
The Brooklyn-based designer uses traditional methods to create her ceramic sculptures, vessels, and furniture pieces. Rather than a wheel, she uses coils and slump molds. Most of these methods refer back to Bodmer-Turner’s time abroad. For example in Japan, she worked with women in Atzompa who have been using outdoor wood kilns for generations. A residency at Shiro One in Japan further shaped her unique approach to ceramics.
Her most visible and familiar works are vessels… in essence, ceramic vases that are a mixture of ancient ceremonial details and modern design. In fact, these pieces comprise Bodmer-Turner’s permanent collection and draw influences from Pre-Columbian water receptacles to mid-century lighting styles.
Initially, Bodmer-Turner was drawn to vessels because of the functionality that is attached to them.
Image courtesy of: Boon Paris
Biomorphic organic white-washed shapes and forms have become more common recently. However for Bodmer-Turner, her references to the style go back to personal experiences and memories. The designer counts the stucco house she grew up in as having a similar feel, as well as the Mediterranean where she says she feels “most aligned with the creative energy and the natural surroundings.” The element of escapism is evident.
As a designer who has recently gotten more and more recognized, Bodmer-Turner realizes that she cannot make each and every piece by hand. Her mind naturally floats to new forms and shapes and she wants to be challenged by more complex things. As such, she designed a slip casting process that would allow for a more accessibly-priced design line. The added bonus is that this left the artist with more time to focus on personal work.
Simone Bodmer-Turner was one of Architectural Digest’s “One to Watch” in 2021.
Image courtesy of: Architectural Digest, photographed by: Tre Crew
With half of her studio devoted to her personal practice, new materials and forms keep the artist very busy. She is vigilant about not putting many parameters on her sculptural work so that it remains “loose and free.” Different than her permanent collection of vessels, she does not plan specific dimensions, nor does she try to recreate previous pieces within her “personal” works.
The pandemic proved the perfect opportunity for Bodmer-Turner to hunker down and design a ceramic furniture collection. A long process that involved much experimentation, it took a year and a half for her to be happy with the chair and side table that debuted in 2020. Since that time, Bodmer-Turner has been prototyping her first multi-disciplinary furniture collection. The collection was influenced by living in small spaces… a repercussion of the pandemic. The element of surprise has remained pivotal throughout the design process. Bodmer-Turner says, “I love it when you encounter a piece of furniture and it surprises you. The surprise is also hyper-functional where you sit in something and are like: “Oh, this is so comfortable.” And you’re holding a coffee or you’re holding a glass of wine, and you think: “I wish I had a place to put this.” Then you realize that there’s a little drawer that like, pops out and you can put your glass there.”
Pieces from the Permanent Collection II. The most popular forms were slightly altered and a miniature series of Più Vessels was added; pieces are intended for (courtesy of Visual Atelier 8) “minimal, ikebana style floral arranging or to stand on their own as sculptural objects.”
Image courtesy of: Visual Atelier 8, photographe by: Colby Edwards
Last year, Bodmer-Turner had her first solo show at Matter Matters in New York City. Included in the show were 25 pieces quite different than the Permanent Collection line. That line was paramount to foster wholesale accounts during the pandemic when people were forced to spend time in their homes. The pieces at the show however were larger than she had expected; so rather than offer the pieces wholesale, these much desired forms were delivered directly to her collectors.
Hearing exactly why Bodmer-Turner is so drawn is ceramics brings this all full-circle. Courtesy of a statement from Matter Matters, she said,”The reason I am so drawn to this medium (clay) is because of the tactile, quiet interactivity of building each piece. It is rare to create something merely by touch, without protective gloves or loud, chaotic machinery, in such an intimate way. I like building furniture out of this same material because it forces the viewer to interact with the piece — to pull on the suspended ball to turn the light on, to grasp the seed-shaped knob to extrude a drawer from a colossal mass of geometric shapes. There’s some small delight and whimsy that I find in that, it’s like being a child and getting to touch something even though you’re not supposed to.”
