A desire for a more practical breakfast bowl was the inspiration for designer Hayden Youlley’s latest ceramic collection, which was recently launched.
Building on his background studying ceramics and object design at university, the Tessellate range is a collection of geometric shaped bowls that can be used to serve nibbles or to store bits and pieces like keys and loose change.
“Tessellate was originally designed in my second year at the University of New South Wales,” says Youlley. “It was in response to a design brief about object relationships that had been given to students for many years. When I handed my work in my tutor told me that in all the years he had been running that assignment he had never seen anyone come up with my solution—the original Square Tessellate piece.
“Years later I revisited the work and expanded the range to add the Triangle and Pentagon bowls. What inspired the design was I really wanted a bowl with an overhang so when I was eating cereal I could use the overhang to help scoop up the last few bits without having to use my fingers.”
All Youlley’s pieces including his previous range, the Paper Series, are designed and handmade at his studio in Sydney’s Marrickville and his designs are stocked in designer homewares stores across Australia.
Youlley has been able to become a successful artist thanks in part to a grant from the Australia Council, which gave him the funds to market his business, Hayden Youlley Design, and raised his profile. “The Arts Start grant helped me maintain and expand my business into its second year, and I’m really proud of how far the business has come in that time.
“Being able to pour all of my time and energy into developing my techniques and creativity into a career has been really fulfilling. I always knew I would enjoy working for myself in a creative endeavour, but I didn’t realise that I could also thrive on the organised chaos that running a small business involves.”
One of Youlley’s biggest challenges so far has been keeping up with demand, especially since debuting at Life Instyle in February. “I had a phenomenal response and have been working night and day since then to fill orders,” he explains.
Turning ideas into reality has also been tricky, especially when creating the Paper Series. Designed to look like scrunched up pieces of paper, the collection had to have sharp creases which were difficult to produce. “My first pieces looked more like sloppy plastic bags than scrunched pieces of paper… I went through a relentless process of trial and error to find a design that would work.”
While creating can be a long process, Youlley is always trying new things and looking to expand his business. “I am always adding new things to the collection—most recently I added a fruit bowl and pot plants to the Paper Series and I’m working on a new bathroom range that is still in the early prototyping phase.
“In the future, I would love to branch out of ceramics and try my hand at textiles and woodwork. I’d love to design and make my own textile homeware and timber furniture line… I will continue to make my collections as long as people continue to love them.”
