Having an interest for Phenomenological conceptions such as Subjectivity, this started out as an investigation of what we conceive as ‘fake’ in opposition to the ‘real’. 

Inspired by ancient rock formations and the strata within them, the pieces are a contemporary interpretation of such geological phenomena. Using Jesmonite with an array of different pigments while constantly experimenting during the casting process, produces undulating coloured strata and fantastical patterns. Certain elements of the process are tightly monitored, while others are more haphazard and left to chance. Each resulting vessel is meticulously crafted and no two are alike -forming an interplay between control and coincidence, a juxtaposition that often informs Hellström’s process. The vessels have the weight, density and feeling of natural stone, and to an extent even have a similar gradation, yet there is a recognition in the swirling layers of vivid colours that it couldn’t have been formed by nature alone. The patterns are too magical, and the ‘stone’ from which the vessels are made possess an otherworldly quality, appearing as though they could have been mined from a far away planet. The intention is not to create a perfect copy of what nature already has designed, but an attempt to perhaps surpass it; creating something ‘even better than the real thing’. 

Sedimentation urns & vessels by Hilda Hellström