The surface of this mug is covered in lines that branch, divide, meet, and disappear again. They look a little like veins, a little like roots, and perhaps even a little like a map of somewhere you’ve never been.

The idea began with something very simple: nothing in nature really grows in a straight line.

A vein branches. A root searches for somewhere to go. A river splits and finds its own path. The surface of this mug follows that same instinct. What might have been a smooth, predictable surface has been interrupted by a network of raised lines, giving the piece the feeling of something that is slowly growing, spreading, and finding its way.

The texture makes the mug particularly tactile. It is not just something to look at the lines are felt by the hand as the mug is held. The surface becomes a small landscape, changing depending on how light falls across it and how the fingers move over it. There is something quite satisfying about holding an object that refuses to be completely smooth.

The mug is finished with a layered glaze that settles differently across the raised and recessed areas of the surface, allowing the texture to become even more pronounced. Each piece carries its own unique network of lines.

Medium: High – fired stoneware
Artist: Pareecca Jaysen