Close Enough

Piece Number: 0003

Title: Close Enough

Type of Piece: Brooch

Materials: Porcelain, Stainless Steel

Techniques: Liquid porcelain dipping, Porcelain stretching

Inspired by/Learned from: a Personal trait

Size: 4cm x 4cm

Date Made: 28 July 2025

Price: Shop Soon online

Making & Meaning:

I have a complicated relationship with being among humans.

I love solitude, working in my studio, walking alone for hours, thinking, collecting. That kind of quiet is essential to me. But still, once in a while, something stirs. A small, natural urge to be around people.

So, once a week, I go out. I sit on a terrace, order something, and just watch. People walking, talking, existing. Sometimes I talk back. Occasionally, if the stars align, I even have a real conversation with a stranger. One that doesn’t drain me. One that matters.

But most of the time? It’s small talk. Endless small talk. Noise without meaning. A draining dance of polite words I never asked to join. That’s why I never sit too close to another table. I need space.

It’s not fear. I’m not afraid of people. It’s about proximity.

I don’t like being packed in, whether it’s in a crowd, a party, or a plane. Not the flying itself, just the idea of being sealed in a metal tube with people I didn’t choose to be close to.

This brooch is one of many I plan to make with quiet statements.

The back is a kitchen sponge, drenched in porcelain slip and fired until only its form remains, light but strong, full of air and resistance. The front is paper porcelain, so thin it’s almost transparent, but with surprising strength.

A personal kind of armour. Fragile looking. Firm in its boundaries.

Like me, maybe. Like many of us.