Light, Lineage and Local Clay: Inside the Szilvassy Studio at Collingwood Yards, Melbourne.

When photographer Traianos Pakioufakis recently visited the Szilvassy studio and workshop at Collingwood Yards in Melbourne, he was struck by something unexpected. “It didn’t feel like most of these sorts of spaces,” he noted. “Definitely had an international gallery/museum vibe in the materiality and quality of the work.” Designed by Dion Hall, the space serves as both working studio and showroom for ceramicist Shari Lowndes and her label Szilvassy.

Here, Traianos sat down with Shari and Dion to discuss light, lineage, and the quiet power of clay.

Traianos Pakioufakis: When I walked in to the space I was taken by the quality of light, even as the sun dipped in and out from behind the clouds. The light on the vessels against the metal shelves reminded me of the Acropolis Museum in Athens and also some kind of ceramic preservation archive—it really made me stop and look at each piece.

Shari Lowndes: I love how you refer to the space and your referral to Acropolis Museum. The light conditions and volume is what influenced me to take on the space. The idea of presenting the forms through an archival model is interesting.

TP: Shari, for your Gemini series you experimented with glazing, and you have named the pieces with Greek colours and materials. As a Greek-speaking Australian, the names match the colours perfectly, however your palette feels like variations on Australian red- and yellow-earth terracotta. From where do you draw these tones?

SL: Colour is something I approach very intuitively when developing glazes. I was less concerned with what the colours might represent or reference, and more interested in how they behave emotionally for me. That instinctive approach allows the process to remain open and less structured for the pieces arrive in their finished state.

For the Gemini series I am leaning into my Greek lineage therefore it is so nice that you feel the descriptions align! When I was thinking about Gemini, I was really responding to the idea of being asked about connection — how things relate to one another. Each vessel is formed from two equal halves that come together to create a single body. That physical joining is important to me; it’s not just a design choice, but a way of talking about interconnectedness.

I was inspired by the Gemini constellation and the myth of Castor and Pollux — twins that are distinct, yet inseparable. That tension between duality and unity. For me, the vessels become a way to explore how forms couple in balance: inner and outer, seen and unseen, material and emotional. I wanted each piece to feel like a quiet container for those intangible things — something familiar, but charged with a deeper sense of presence.

TP: I can’t help but feel a connection to the ancient world in your work, probably because ceramics have been produced for thousands of years. Does the local clay here in Australia have any unique properties?

SL: Thank you — I take your comment re. ‘connection to the ancient’ world as a real compliment. Ceramics has such a deep lineage, going back to the very beginnings of making/creation. I spend a lot of time looking at ancient and early ceramic forms, not to replicate a specific form, origin or place, rather to understand how clay has been used across time.

Local clay has always been a focus for me. Clay carries an incredible amount of history including DNA — it embodies traces of time and land — and working with it reminds me that I have a brief moment to connect with it. I have a great sense of respect for the material central to my practice.

Here in Victoria, I’ve found beautiful variations of terracotta. I have a small reserve from the Chewton Bushlands and recently discovered clay within the property where my studio is located. It appears unremarkable at first, and very unusual elastic like properties, but after testing it has some qualities worthy of exploring. For Gemini, I’m working with a mix of recycled clay bodies, pushing both the material and myself to support the scale and precision of the forms.

TP: Dion, I want some of these shelves. Did you design these specifically for Szilvassy or had you been developing them prior? Bit of both?

Dion Hall: Thanks, Traianos — the various pieces were designed specifically for Szilvassy and there are additional elements within this line currently being developed to add adaptions within the space. We have agreed to make some of the pieces within small production numbers available for purchase which are now available to order.

[Photography by Traianos Pakioufakis.]