Dune Freeform Bowl

Not food safe. This is a decorative bowl, not serveware.

It is not suitable for food. The glaze is decorative rather than food safe, so nothing edible should go in it. That is worth knowing before you order, because a bowl this size looks like it should hold olives.

What it is for is the things that gather: keys, rings, earrings, loose change, a watch. On a console or a bedside it is considerably better looking than a dish that came free with something.

It is oval rather than round, 21cm one way and 15cm the other, so it takes up less surface than a 21cm circle would.

Light at 0.71kg, which makes it easy to move around a house until it finds the right spot.

The rim was shaped by hand while the clay was soft, so it rises and falls rather than sitting level.

A wheel-thrown bowl comes off with a flat, even rim. Here the edge has been pushed and pulled into peaks and dips, so the profile changes completely depending on where you stand. From one side it reads as a low open dish, from another as something with real height to it.

The reactive glaze runs in horizontal bands of sand, pale grey and cream, with darker speckling gathered along the band edges. That layering comes from the glaze moving during firing rather than being painted on, which is why it looks like sediment or weathered stone.

A rust-brown line follows the rim where the glaze has thinned over the edge and the clay body shows through. On a pale piece that thin dark line is what gives the whole shape its definition.

Because the rim is hand-shaped and the glaze reacts in the kiln, no two are alike in either the profile or the banding.

• A hand-shaped freeform rim, so the profile changes as you move around it
• Reactive glaze in horizontal bands of sand, grey and cream
• A rust line along the rim, giving a pale piece its definition
• Oval rather than round, so it takes less surface than it looks
• No two alike, in either the shape or the glaze banding
• Light at 0.71kg, easy to move until it finds its spot
• Works empty, which is how a sculptural bowl mostly lives
• Pale neutral, sitting with timber, linen, stone and rattan

The first option and usually the best. A bowl with a rim this sculptural is an object, and filling it hides exactly what you bought it for.

Keys on a hallway console, rings and earrings on a bedside, a watch on a desk. Not food, but plenty else.

The rim is not symmetrical, so one view is better than the others. Rotate it until the peak faces the way you approach, and it reads as deliberate rather than placed.

A pale bowl against a pale surface loses its shape. A dark glazed vessel or a timber object nearby gives it the contrast it needs.

The glaze banding and the peaks of the rim are both revealed by raking light. A lamp nearby does far more for it than overhead light, which flattens the whole thing.

Not for food or drink. The glaze is decorative rather than food safe, so keep anything edible out of it. That includes dry snacks, not only wet ones.

Wipe clean with a soft damp cloth, dried straight after. Do not submerge it and do not put it in a dishwasher.

Nothing abrasive on the glossy glaze, which will dull it permanently in patches.

Mind the rim. The peaks of a hand-shaped edge are the thinnest points and where a chip would start. Lift it from underneath rather than by the rim.

Use a mat on a polished surface, since a ceramic foot will mark timber if the bowl is slid rather than lifted.

What to expect. The rim profile and the glaze banding differ on every piece, so yours will not match the photograph exactly. That is the point of a reactive glaze on a hand-shaped form.

It ships packed for ceramic. Current timescales and charges are set out on our delivery page.

Any questions before you order? Reach us via our contact page or live chat.

If it is not right, our returns process is straightforward, and everything is covered by our guarantees and warranties.

Our price match promise stands if you find the same piece for less elsewhere. Styling a holiday let or a showhome? Ask about trade accounts.