A design system shaped by hand, fired by intention
01 — Glazes & Clays
Colors drawn from the kiln: raw terracotta before firing, celadon glaze pooling in carved lines, cobalt oxide brushstrokes, and the quiet grey of wood ash settling on stoneware.
Clay Bodies
Glazes
Surfaces
02 — Inscriptions
Three faces, each with a distinct purpose: the elegant serif for display work, the steady text serif for long reading, and a clean sans for interface elements and small labels.
Display — Cormorant Garamond
Shaped by the potter's hand
Headings
Body — Libre Baskerville
Every piece that leaves the kiln carries the memory of its making. The slight wobble of a thrown rim, the way glaze pools in the foot ring, the fingerprints pressed into wet clay — these are not flaws but signatures. In wabi-sabi, beauty lives in imperfection, in the asymmetry of a hand-shaped lip, in the crackle pattern that maps a glaze's cooling journey.
UI Text — Source Sans 3
Interface labels, captions, and meta information use the clean sans-serif for readability at small sizes. This keeps functional text distinct from editorial content.
Captions & Labels
Cone 10 Reduction • Stoneware • Wood Fired
03 — The Wheel's Rhythm
A consistent base-8 spacing scale, like the steady rhythm of a potter's wheel. Each increment doubles, building visual hierarchy through measured white space.
04 — Kiln-Fired Controls
Each button carries a glaze sheen — a soft highlight that catches light like a finished ceramic piece. Colors map to intent: warm clay for primary action, celadon for secondary paths, cobalt for tertiary, kiln-glow for emphasis.
Standard Sizes
Variants
05 — Shaping on the Wheel
Form inputs sit in shallow bowls — inset shadows suggest the concavity of thrown ware. Focus states warm the clay, drawing the eye to the active field.
The name for your pottery piece in the studio catalog.
06 — Pottery on the Shelf
Cards rest on shelves like finished pieces awaiting a buyer. Each carries a glaze band at its crown — a stripe of color that identifies its category, like the colored marks potters leave on kiln shelves.
A quiet vessel with pooling jade-green glaze, crazed surface catching light differently with each turn. Cone 10 reduction.
Stoneware ReductionPulled from the kiln at peak temperature, plunged into reduction. Copper reds flash across a crackled white surface in unpredictable beauty.
Raku CopperBold oxide brushwork under a clear glaze. The deep blue bleeds slightly at each stroke edge, a signature of hand-painted work.
Porcelain OxidationThree days in the anagama. Ash deposits create their own glaze — no two surfaces alike. Natural flame marks trace the fire's path.
Wood Fire AnagamaLiquid clay piped in freehand lines across a leather-hard surface, then dipped in ash glaze. The raised trails catch light and shadow.
Earthenware SlipRaw clay left bare after bisque firing. The body speaks for itself — texture, color, and form without the veil of glaze.
Sculpture Bisque07 — Kiln Warnings
Status messages styled as kiln-side notices. The left border echoes the color-coding potters use to track temperatures and states through a firing schedule.
08 — Studio Shelves
Two navigation patterns: shelf tabs for primary sections (the active tab marked with a warm clay underline) and glaze pills for filtering and secondary choices.
Shelf Tabs
Glaze Pills
09 — Wabi-Sabi
This system draws from the ceramic tradition's deepest values: imperfection over precision, warmth over polish, honesty of material over decoration.
01
Like the wobble in a hand-thrown rim, slight organic irregularity makes interfaces feel human. Use organic radii, subtle texture, and asymmetric whitespace.
02
Let the clay body show. Surfaces should feel honest — no gratuitous gloss, no fake depth. Shadows reflect real-world light. Colors come from earth and fire.
03
Choose warm neutrals over sterile greys. Let backgrounds breathe with the warmth of unfired clay. Interfaces should feel like a sunlit studio, not a clean room.
04
Like a shelf of pottery, each piece holds its space without shouting. Use scale, weight, and subtle color shifts rather than bold borders and heavy contrast.
05
Every piece should carry evidence of craft. A glaze band, a crackle pattern, a wheel mark — small details that reward close attention and build identity.
06
Interactions should feel transformative. Hover states warm. Clicks press into clay. Transitions flow like glaze melting. The kiln is the commit — irreversible and revealing.