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Carla Dinnage grew up in Brighton, Victoria, and was always drawn to art (alongside netball and socialising, like many teens!). After studying ceramics at boarding school, Carla enrolled in fine arts at RMIT, but it would be many years before she would return to the wheel to start her own ceramics line.
After having four kids and being a stay-at-home mum, Carla explains she ‘suddenly had a huge creative urge to get back to ceramics.’ With the children slightly older, Carla had the time to pursue her love of pottery. She highlights ‘this lead to me purchasing a kiln, then starting up my instagram account, enabling stockists to contact me to stock my pieces in their shops.’
Carla’s distinctive ceramic wall-mounted crosses and other motifs attracted lots of attention early on, leading to her work being stocked by US interiors mecca, Anthropologie. Not bad for a Melbourne maker, working from a home studio in her garage!
‘Holi’ is Carla’s latest collection, and celebrates a rainbow of colourful glazes, which Carla has never been shy of splashing around in her work! She explains ‘I have gone back to my original hand coiled vases, which I used to create a uni, and I’m really excited to launch this new range.’ The collection has Carla’s trademark gold lustre liberally used throughout, as she explains ‘you can never have enough gold in your life.’
For anyone who is interested in getting their own hands covered in clay and pursuing ceramics as a career or craft, Carla imparts three pieces of creative wisdom: ‘trust your instincts, create what you like and not what you think other people will like, and don’t be afraid to go bold and use heaps of colour.’
Carla’s work with be exhibited in a joint show with Noni Drew at MSG Gallery in Melbourne, May 1st to 5th.
