Glacial Bio-Pottery

Glacial Bio-Pottery is a material and process driven exploration of reformulating the ceramic slip casting process for the nomadic creative to make the ceramic practice more accessible and utilize local waste stream systems. The dish set Glacial Bio-Pottery explores Iceland’s unlikely resources for form, mold, and casting materials to create bio-based dishes inspired by Iceland’s ash covered glaciers. Bio-Pottery takes advantage of local waste stream systems to divert these valuable resources into a circular creative process. The “three” step process of the Glacial Bio-Pottery dish set is of form, mold, and casting, where each step utilizes different waste streams in Iceland; waste wool for form development, paper waste for mold making, and food waste for slip casting. Each step has the ability to be recycled in the Bio-Pottery process and at the end of its usability return to the soil through composting. The process of Bio-Pottery evokes an intimate and transparent connection with waste materials that can be adapted to anywhere. Bio-Pottery encourages creatives to engage with their community for material possibilities of reformulating ceramic slip casting. By involving one’s community while researching local resources it opens up meaningful conversations of waste, recycling, upcycling, and collaborations with unlikely industries. Bio-Pottery can be practiced in a home studio allowing greater accessibility to the ceramic practice and use for other creative disciplines.