Every so often someone picks up one of our cups, hears the word "mould," and decides it can't be handmade. If there's a mould, the thinking goes, it must be a factory. It's a fair assumption. It's also wrong, at least for how I work here.

So here's what actually happens.

Porcelain, stoneware, and terracotta get lumped together a lot, all clay bodies that end up as ceramics, as mugs, bowls, and plates on a table. But they're different materials, fired differently, and they behave differently once they're in daily use. Here's each one on its own terms, and why we chose porcelain for Morph & Mould.

Slip casting is a way of making ceramics by pouring liquid clay into a plaster mould. The plaster pulls the water out of the clay, so a solid layer builds up against the inside of the mould. Once that layer is thick enough, the leftover liquid is poured back out, leaving a hollow shape that's then dried, finished, and fired. That's the whole idea in one breath.