Trevor Rizzato

.Trevor Rizzato started evening ceramic classes, with Lesley-Ann Hoets, 14 years ago. What was initially meant to be a hobby developed over time into a career. It was while working in the studios of Anthony Shapiro that he learnt the technique of smoke firing vessels. He continued to produce these for the next ten years. After returning from a year abroad, he started experimenting with different glaze recipes and thus transitioned to design. Trevor’s vessels are all hand-built and his shapes largely inspired by early Chinese ceramics.

"It was while I was travelling, on a break from making smoke fired pots, that I became aware of the stirrings of rebellion.

A delicately painted flower, on a sign warning you not to take photos, or use drones, at the border of Kosovo and Albania; a smiling emoji sticker across a jolly “trespassers will be shot dead” poster, by a military outpost in Kashmir; Pokemon on political ads in Turkey.

In China, I started to cross an empty road, only to have a whistle blowing police type person usher me a few metres to the left, back into conformity, at the officially designated street crossing spot.

I get it.

Feeling smothered by a social and cultural hierarchy, overwhelmed by dodgy politics and subdued by those in authority, I find humour and resilience in these gentle acts of quiet rebellion.

Some express it with delicately painted flowers… I say it on pots."