Although Monoware is based in South London and our tableware is made in Portugal, there’s something about the coastal serenity of Cornwall that speaks to the nature of our brand. Perhaps it’s the lifestyle. The cup of coffee enjoyed up on the cliffs or out on the porch overlooking the ebb and flow of the Atlantic. The plates of local produce cooked up in small spaces, enjoyed with friends al fresco on a hot summer’s day. A bowl of something sweet to round off the night as the moon hangs in the sky, the salt drying on your skin. The pebbled beaches of the Helford passage that mirror our speckled glaze.
As you can tell, we’ve been having a love affair with Cornwall this summer. And having worked with photographer Rhona McDade, founder of Goodrest Studios, for a while now, we wanted to find that connection between the coastal setting she lives in and the Monoware collection. For Rhona, who grew up in a small fishing village in Devon, daughter to a fisherman she knew that coastal living was in her blood. After a half-a-decade stint in London, she returned to the South West. She fell in love with Falmouth and the slower pace of life, where she says “the land nurtured my creative practice in a way that wouldn’t have been possible in London.”
“I wanted to investigate monochromatic colour by placing the ceramics on natural surfaces that echoed each of the beautiful natural glazes used. Perranporth beach lent itself perfectly to this project. I found miles of white sand to pair with the ‘Chalk’ glaze. Dark black cave walls for the ‘Onyx’ glaze. Smooth, muted pebbles for the ‘Pebble’ glaze and towering walls of slate for the ‘Slate’ glaze.”
“Nature is certainly a big part of my life and creative practice as a brand photographer. It’s not really something I am ever apart from. I love to swim in the sea and in rivers with as little between myself and nature as possible. On rainy weather days I like to go to a forest where I can find shelter whilst still being out in nature and on warm days I will no doubt be by the sea.”
“One of my favourite spots at the moment is Idless Woods. I choose to walk and run barefoot through the woods and often finish my adventure with a dunk in the stream. This is a perfect spot to soak in nature. In the springtime the woods are full of bluebells and in the Autumn you can find a variety of fungi.”
