Ceramic Paint / Collection Cornwall by Kirstie van Noort | Eindhoven (NL) | By Emma Harrison

Up until the early 1990s, Cornwall was home to many mines rich in copper, tin and silver. After the mines were forced to close and all sign of industrial extraction had long departed, the landscape was left stained with a faded yet colourful palette of natural resources.

In 2011, Dutch ceramicist Kirstie van Noort set out to explore this trail of deposits strung across the county. The two week search eventually lead to the development of the 108 different colours now found in her impressive collection, with the base of every shade originating from just one of the twelve materials that are scattered across the now largely disused and filled Cornwall mines.

Once dried, ground and diluted with water, the paints were developed and applied to earthenware and china and the end results can be found in Van Noort’s work entitled ‘Ceramic Paint/Collection Cornwall’. The three objects in the collection, Bugle, Geevor and Nanpean have been named after the places where the materials were found and developed to ‘give an impression of the impact their respective footprints have left on the landscape’.

Kirstie van Noort has documented her journey and the process of ceramic paint development in a book and photojournal, available on her website.