Marty Trammell Sculpture Thesis Portfolio Spring 2022
Cats and Clay: Wheel-Thrown Ceramic Furniture for People and Cats
Humans have been sharing their homes with cats for a very long time, and generally, we cohabitate quite well, but sometimes our needs or desires for living spaces don’t completely line up with those of our feline companions. With my ceramic furniture, I strive to value cats and humans equally in my designs and create pieces that allow the needs of both species to be met harmoniously. Unlike typical cat furniture, my pieces are also easy to clean and don’t use materials that some people find unattractive like carpet, cardboard, or rope.
When I first proposed this project, I knew that I wanted to make an unconventional kind of functional ceramics. I had goals in mind, like minimizing environmental impact and combining different forms of craft, but I was lacking a specific focus beyond that. Adding the goal of meeting the needs of both cats and humans in my work gave me an exciting challenge. I pulled inspiration from fostering cats and kittens, as well as traditional pottery techniques and surfaces to create these furniture pieces.