Join us as we take advantage of the quiet season's onset and get to know one of the newest artists in the Home store: ARC Objects Studio. Hand made in New York and heavily influenced by lifelong experiences in the Mediterranean, ARC Objects' porcelain pieces offer beautiful and functional shapes that embrace organic form and imperfection. Founder Daniela Jacobs took some time away from her work recently to tell us more about how these pieces came to be, and where she's headed next.
Tell us a little bit about your creative history, and how/why you decided to start ARC Objects Studio.
I've always been a creative person, since I was a small child. I've always loved drawing, reimagining things, and bringing ideas to life – I always knew I wanted to pursue something creative, though I wouldn't have necessarily guessed it would have unfolded quite the way it has.
ARC is the continuation/evolution of my Senior Thesis Project at Parsons; it's a collection that was born as a means to create usable and wearable sculpture, explore the boundaries between form and function, and bridge multiple areas of interest within the scope of one project. What has unfolded is a sustainable creative practice that has taken me beyond my studies, now an independent business that has been intentionally seasonless from the beginning.
ARC consists of jewelry and home objects, each of which comprise a core collection, though there have been limited editions, one-of-a-kinds, and special projects throughout the years as well. The brand’s pieces combine boldness and simplicity, duality – how something can be powerful and delicate simultaneously – and seek to highlight transient moments of beauty in the everyday. Sources of inspiration have always been geometric shapes, and textures found in nature (specifically the Mediterranean), the love of a good contrast, and things that are both literal and figurative (like an arc itself).
Why did you decide to focus on the use of porcelain in your ceramic work?
I actually started working with ceramics as a child, but it was at Parsons that I learned small-scale industrial mold making techniques, slip casting, and modeling. Since its beginning, ARC has been a collection comprised mainly of porcelain because it embodies so many elements that endlessly fascinate me, and because at this point in my practice, it’s a material I feel fluent in.
What principle or inspiration guides you? How do you see it manifest in your creative work?
Not to be repetitive, but I find the wildness and imperfection of nature endlessly inspiring – especially the Mediterranean landscapes I grew up observing with renewed and ever-unfolding fascination. There is so much to be learned from observing nature, both in terms of its natural elegance and chaos and in terms of what it can teach us as humans about slowing down and being more intentional.
What makes your work feel easy? Is there anything that makes it feel particularly challenging?
I love this project (ARC) and that makes the work feel easy in many ways. I love designing, I love working with my hands, I love testing out prototypes for the first time, I love feeling like I'm using the creative part of my brain in new ways. The things that are my favorites can also sometimes be challenging, but that's part of the process. Nothing interesting is purely linear.
What are you looking forward to in ARC's future?
So many things! I've really been loving exploring glass as a new material in my practice, as a new branch on the tree of this project. I've wanted to work with glass for so long, it's so exciting to finally do so. I have so many new ideas I'm excited to explore...
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Thank you Daniela - we're happy to have your work in the Home store and online for people to explore and love!
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