Casual Ware was exhibited by IWT Projects in Ngā Ana Wai, Kingsland, showcasing a combination of collected and made porcelain, stoneware and earthenware pieces by Jack Tilson, intended for everyday use, durability, and with simplicity as its core.
The term casual ware refers to mid-century modern ceramics in the west, characterised by minimalism and practicality. Typically mass-produced using stoneware, earthenware, or porcelain, these objects were designed for everyday use within a rapidly modernising, consumer-driven society. In this exhibition, the notion of casual ware is recontextualised, honouring history, process, and place, while also acknowledging Tilson’s position as a Pākehā artist living and working in Aotearoa.
Tilson explores the passage of time through "casual ware", walking through the ideological and imperial whakapapa of porcelain, focusing on the porcelain slip, from its cultural roots in China, Korea, Japan, and its continued legacy in Aotearoa. The well-known ceramics company Crown Lynn (1929–1989) embodies the historical British adoption of Japanese porcelain ceramics whilst also defining its own innovative ceramics approach. Casual ware traverses ancient and recent histories. These histories share a story of migration, colonisation, and national identity. Tilson considers the amalgamation of time, philosophy, colonial legacy, which is rooted in violence, and cultural exchange.
I decided to cover several of the works in the show, all works that Tilson had told me about in the exhibition space. I was struck by the scope of information that was covered, so I took this as an opportunity to reflect on the depth of what was shared with me that day.
Remaining from a past performance, two jars at the entryway of the exhibit had set the tone for what could be explored in Casual Ware. Moon jars are also known as "keun hangari" (큰 항아리), which translates to "large, earthenware jar". This piece is traditionally made from porcelain and was born from the Joseon Dynasty (1392–1500s). At this time, porcelain had aligned with Neo-Confucianism ideology, where ideals of purity and simplicity were prioritized. They hold great reverence in Korea, often in contexts of royalty, and were only made in Korea during the Joseon Dynasty.
Moon jars remain a revered vessel for their cultural significance and symbolism. They represent a part of the historic use of porcelain in Korea, using Joseon baekja (true white porcelain). Although Japan is known for its use of porcelain, it only made its way to Japan through the Hideyoshi invasion, also known as the Imjin War (1592–1598), during which time thousands of skilled artisans, including potters, were forcibly displaced to Japan.
Absence and Presence, c. 19th century, 2021
Brick mould (c. 19th century), roasted rice green tea, wood-fired, unprocessed Waitākere clay on wood shelf.
On a wooden shelf sat a Crown Lynn brick mould, a remnant from the Brick and Pipe Company that laid the foundation for Crown Lynn in 1925. After World War I (1918), the company began shifting toward the local use of clay over imported materials. By World War II (1939), with imports completely cut off, they relied on their own expertise to sustain production. During this time, Aotearoa developed a unique blend of locally sourced clay that mimicked the effect of porcelain.
Long before this, however, Crown Lynn had established the practical skills that would sustain them for six decades, crafting highly durable, functional earthenware, all embodied in the simplicity of a single brick mould. Placed inside the brick mould is Genmaicha (玄米茶), a Japanese green tea with roasted rice, common in chanoyu (tea ceremonies). Next to the brick was a raku ware teacup, made with unprocessed Waitākere clay. This clay was developed in ancient volcanic and sedimentary earth thousands of years ago. Its colour comes from the iron-rich basalt in the earth, causing a reddish-brown colour. The porous texture is where the remnants of earth have burnt away during the oxidation phase, at around 300–800°C.
Raku ware, used in chanoyu (茶の湯, “hot water for tea”), was often hand-built, fired at low temperatures, and cooled in open air. The use of tea and raku-style cups recalls the story of potter Chōjirō, tea master Sen no Rikyū, and ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Chōjirō, possibly the son of a Korean or Chinese potter, was commissioned by Rikyū to create tea bowls reflecting wabi-sabi, an aesthetic rooted in Taoist and Zen Buddhist ideals of impermanence, simplicity, and imperfection. Using local Japanese clay and hand-building techniques, Chōjirō’s work embodied this philosophy. Hideyoshi, however, disapproved of Rikyū’s austere aesthetic. Despite an early bond over tea, the two diverged in both taste and politics. This rift contributed to Rikyū’s forced suicide by seppuku in 1591.
The story of Chōjirō and Sen no Rikyū was part of the shift towards new aesthetics, such as wabi-sabi aesthetics. These shifts began after the Imjin war, when Korean potters brought new techniques to Japan. Absence and Presence demonstrates a commitment to the use of local clay and an aesthetic philosophy aligning with wabi-sabi. This is prevalent in each piece's history in context with others: a gesture of imported green tea held in a locally made historical object, alongside a cup that holds centuries of contested histories and enduring philosophies. There are moments of irony throughout Casual Ware, where imported Japanese green tea inside a Crown Lynn brick mould speaks to some of the absurdities within cultural exchange, as well as what it can offer. Tilson gestures towards a gentle protest of the considered use of local clay, doused in layers of history.
Saggar Saga, c. 10th century, 2021/23
Wood-fired Waitākere clay, wood ash glaze, chamomile tea, Matauri Bay porcelain, Northern Song Dynasty Qingbai kiln waster (c. 10th Century), porcelain waster (stuck).
Tilson used wood-fired clay from Waitākere using an ancient Chinese tradition to make stoneware saggars, protective and enclosed stoneware boxes, made to protect Qingbai porcelain bowls during firings. Saggars are traditionally made by hand and used to protect what is considered the first true porcelain, requiring firings at high temperatures of 1300°C. Amongst a series of saggars using Waitākere clay, sits a piece from Tilson’s collection that existed over a millennium ago: a Northern Song Dynasty Qingbai kiln waster (c. 10th Century). Wasters were finely made Qingbai porcelain bowls that stuck to the saggar or broke throughout firing. These historical artefacts today show a deep insight into an ancient Chinese practice of working with porcelain.
Next to this ancient artifact sat a porcelain waster with an ash glaze stuck to a Waitākere clay saggar, the bowl glossy and translucent. The loose clay marks on the outside of the saggar remind me that these two sat alongside each other with a thousand years between them, holding invaluable knowledge about porcelain and kiln techniques. One of these saggars held chamomile tea, which was placed in the saggar as a gesture of implied ritual, rest, and care, and exuding an essence of ceremony. Saggars often ended up being used as bowls for drinking tea. In Japan, the concept would be used for wabi-cha ceremonies, perfectly aligning with wabi-sabi philosophy.
Bursting, 2021/25
Wood-fired Waitākere clay, Matauri Bay porcelain slip, celadon glaze.
Bursting (2021/25) juxtaposes two works with four years between them. The vase was made when Tilson first arrived in New Lynn and began wood-fired pottery. The work is tilted on its side to reveal a large crack, a beautiful detail that exposes the thickness of the piece. There is an added sense of weight and movement to the piece, a meditation on time. The celadon glaze of this work dates back to the Eastern Han Dynasty (25–220 CE), almost two thousand years ago. Tilson has used a Qingbai-style glaze, Qingbai (青白), which means "blue-white", a later development of the celadon glaze that focused more on the use of porcelain.
Both works were heavily reduced to bring out the blue tones of the glaze, while the porcelain slip adds translucency. Traditionally, you’d have a celadon glaze over a porcelain body. Tilson has used a Matauri Bay porcelain slip over a Waitākere clay body. Waitākere clay is often very iron-rich due to the volcanic field of Waitākere. The character of the local clay has been retained through the darker tone in the 2021 piece and the “speckly” nature of them both.
Transmission, c. 10th century, 2024
Wood-fired Matauri Bay halloysite porcelain, shell ash glaze, Northern Song Dynasty porcelain ewer shard (c. 10th century).
Transmission started as a ewer shard from the Northern Song Dynasty (c. 10th century). An ewer is a vessel made with a wide mouth for carrying water. Next to this collected artifact sits two ewers that have been wood-fired using Matauri Bay halloysite porcelain with a shell ash glaze. The Matauri Bay halloysite porcelain comes from a highly pure halloysite clay deposit located at Matauri Bay in the far north of Aotearoa. This deposit is known for its whiteness and fine particle size, and it produces a luminous translucency in porcelain. It is one of the few naturally occurring clay deposits that produces true porcelain without blending or heavy processing.
The design of these ewers replicate what the shard artifact might have once looked like. The two ewers use local clay and local glazing materials from Aotearoa, connecting with an ancient artifact from the Song Dynasty in China, the golden age of Chinese ceramics. During this period, dragon kilns enabled high-temperature, consistent firing, which was essential for creating thin-walled, translucent porcelain.
It was a time marked by philosophical and aesthetic ideals of simplicity, subtlety, and natural beauty. Neo-confucianism was the main intellectual movement of the Chinese Song Dynasty, it became both the departure/transformation of the dominant Buddhist and Daoist philosophies that never fully disappeared. The movement arose from a desire to establish stronger social order and to reframe the relationship with the spiritual, metaphysical, and cosmological realms.
From this you started to see much for refinement aesthetically as well. The Northern Song ewer sits right at the beginning of this philosophical shift. This is shown in its clean lines, elegant forms and purity through translucent porcelain. Tilson creates a disposition of time and place, and the title Transmission alludes to an acknowledgement of cultural knowledge and history being passed down and transmuted.
Casual ware traces intersecting histories from China, Korea, Japan, and Aotearoa, with a focus on imported porcelain, stoneware and earthenware. The show interrogates value propositions and national identity as embodied in aesthetic form and function. There is a reflection on the negotiations between time and land, negotiations often marked by war, colonisation, and displacement. The sweetness lies in moments where cultures collide, entangle, and transform.
Written by Dayle Palfreyman