Drink, Dine, Design 2013: Ulrica Trulsson

Swedish-born ceramic artist Ulrica Trulsson has won JamFactory’s drink+dine+design South Australian Emerging Designer competition, which encourages artists to connect with this state’s food and wine culture. The second-year JamFactory Associate was one of 11 shortlisted finalists for the second year of JamFactory’s unique competition. All finalists are currently showing at the drink+dine+design exhibition, which runs until Sunday, December 1. Trulsson says her winning work Jug with Beakers focuses on celebrating and appreciating the materials used. “I enjoy using different clay bodies and exploring the effects I can achieve in the firing, where colours are enhanced and the iron in the clay forms speckles to give an interesting surface. I gave the jug a narrowed neck to invite the hand to grasp it, and the gentle curve of the form references the way that water shapes within its path. I hope this will in turn form a dialogue with food and drink, where the use of fresh quality produce is enhanced by the objects used when presenting it.” JamFactory CEO Brian Parkes, who was one of the competition’s judges along with The Adelaide Review’s design writer Leanne Amodeo and the University of South Australia’s Joanne Cys, says Jug with Beakers feels as good as it looks in reference to its ergonomic function and the quality of its glaze surface. “We all felt that this work captured the fine balance between fine contemporary lines and the prevailing craft aesthetic – we could easily imagine them in use at any number of leading South Australian restaurants that take an artisanal approach to their meal offerings.” Parkes is pleased with how the drink+dine+design competition is progressing. “After just two years we’re thrilled with the quality of the work and the way it collectively points to new ideas and opportunities for crosspollination between gastronomy and design – two areas where South Australia genuinely excels. Our job with the current exhibition, and over the next few years, is to bring more of the state’s leading food and wine producers into the tent to explore how they might work more closely with the great design talent pool that exists here.” Trulsson, who began exploring the medium of ceramics after moving to Melbourne, says there is a Scandinavian design aesthetic present in her work. “I believe there is a pared back simplicity stemming from the aesthetic that I grew up with that is apparent in my work. Sometimes it is more picked up on by others that see it as specifically Scandinavian, and that makes me realise it too. To me it is how I naturally see things and express myself. I feel that my aesthetics carry a reference to my native Sweden, which is my point of origin, but that I have also picked up many other references along the way after living in Scotland for a length of time, and now several years here in Australia.” drink+dine+design JamFactory, GalleryTwo Continues until Sunday, December 1 jamfactory.com.au