Born out of a team building exercise to help the team find solace during the pandemic, OWIU GOODS (https://owiu-goods.com/) launched their ceramics practice together and developed their skills in tandem. A natural extension of their aesthetic practice, OWIU started producing pieces to stage in their architectural products and for their frequent team dinners.
During the pandemic. They began by fulfilling custom orders for existing clients, creating ceramics using an “omakase-style” of interpretation to form distinctive pieces favoring evocative impression over direct representation. This synergy between the lived experience of the client and the interpretive and creative license from the OWIU team allowed for a genuine collaboration in its truest sense and rooted in trust. These initial forays into ceramics as a new medium quickly matured into a passionate practice from which the team was able to develop their first home goods line. From the start the MATTER (https://owiu-goods.com/collections/matter) line has leaned towards the abstract, choosing to create from a place of deep nostalgia and emotion rather than literal rendition.
On their own travels the founders of OWIU have developed a tradition of collecting ceramic pieces from every new place they visit, conjuring memories with every use. With the MATTER line, they hope to make memories tangible and relay this same sentiment to their customers, allowing everyday objects to take on a transportive quality while in the comfort of one’s own home.
In Fall 2022, OWIU GOODS debuted their first collection of ceramics with a line of home essentials including a matcha bowl, canister, cup, bowl, and plate. The daily necessities in any households’ kitchen. Each item will be available in a series of 4 glaze families inspired by landscapes visited personally by the principals of the firm. Each glaze family has a geo-specific reference from travels by one of the founders, Amanda Gunawan. Her personal photos serve as the base for the packaging and branding.
“We want to visually capture the essence of brands and create everyday objects that are more than the objects themselves. Every piece is also a container of memory made tangible and visceral. We want our line of home goods to make everyday living more beautiful, to inspire and even transport the owner into the landscapes that have animated this first collection.” - Amanda Gunawan.
The ethos behind this first collection stands behind the idea that a simple ball of clay is only activated by human experience and made beautiful when imbibed with emotional and creative intervention. While the form of an object may be universal, what creates meaning is the interpretation of the maker.
At the OWIU Goods studio, only locally sourced clay is used. There is also a strong practice of waste reclamation where all wasted and trimmed materials are further reclaimed to be reused in future projects.
