Claymates
reverdir
/rə-vɛr-ˈdir/
verb
French
to turn green again; to become green once more
This spring, East Fork Founder, Alex Matisse, made his return to the Workshop with a collection of hand painted dinnerware—reconnecting with an early love of decoration, pattern, and the illusive nature of the brush and painted pigment.
“Reverdir is an old French word meaning to turn green again. It is a welcoming back of something dormant—something that went to sleep but never died—returning full of life and energy and newness. This small capsule collection marks a very personal return to something that was lost to me for many years, as my energy was focused on a different kind of growth.
As an apprentice, I learned to paint on pottery from my first teacher, Matt Jones, and continued with my second teacher, Mark Hewitt. As a potter, I was known for adornment, floral and geometric patterns, often applied with thick slip to unfired pots before the kiln. This collection takes many of those older motifs and translates them to brush and pigment, welcoming spring, my own return to the workshop, and an enduring fascination with the pot as canvas.”
