A love of textiles sparked TOAST Head of Home Judith Harris’s journey into homewares. “My original training was as a textile designer,” she says. “I have always been drawn to the creation and origins of fabrics. I’m fascinated by the making process and love the beauty and unique irregularities of the handmade.” Over time, she travelled widely, “to pursue my passion for global textiles and to add to my personal collection,” then spent fifteen years as a clothing buyer. “During my time working in NYC I took a ceramics course which I loved. It made me realise that my heart lay in homeware,” she says. “The curation and layering of different forms and materials excites me to this day.”
Judith’s relationship with TOAST spans almost the full arc of its home offering. “My first homeware position was actually for TOAST some 16 years ago, working with the original founders,” she says. After a period at The Conran Shop, she returned to TOAST in 2018 as Head of Home. “The opportunity to build a collection of craft-focused pieces and curate a range of homeware to sit alongside the clothing collections was an exciting prospect.”
A well-considered home, for Judith, must support the life inside it. “It’s a space that is at ease with the lifestyle of the owner,” she says. “Both stimulating and calming, it is well planned and filled with things that are both functional and meaningful.” This philosophy is central to her approach to TOAST Home. “We want to create a range of curated homeware with functionality and meaning at its core,” she says. “The origin of a piece and the making process is important as the starting point.”
In the studio, each piece begins with research. “We often explore a philosophy behind a concept and research the lives of inspiring characters, either historic or contemporary.” It’s a collaborative atmosphere. “Within the design team, there is a constant stream of influences and inspirations. We spend as much time talking and exchanging ideas as we do sharing visual references.” Some of the most energising moments come away from the desk. “We are lucky enough to go on inspiration days where we might do a workshop together, learn how to make something from an inspiring craftsperson, or visit a museum or gallery.”
Material, naturally, is integral to the collection. “Having trained as a textile designer, I am always drawn to things with a texture and small irregularities,” Judith says. She speaks of her love for clay and stoneware, “smooth or textural, sculptural or functional,” and of handspun cloth for its subtle variation, “how they differ from one piece to the next.” From there comes the work of editing: a refinement that keeps the collection useful. “Our collection is very much a curation,” she says. “Things need to work together, to layer. Pairings that are unexpected, whether through colour or material, make the collection feel fresh. They create the excitement. Simplicity is key though, as we want to ensure there is always functionality at the core of the collection.”
Alongside form and function sits responsibility. “We are very driven to ensure all pieces maintain our TOAST values - natural materials that lessen our impact on the environment. Traceability. All these factors are considered when making final selections.” The most rewarding moment, for Judith, arrives when an idea becomes real, “seeing the first prototype materialise from a design,” and travelling to visit makers. “I love our visits to India, where we work with many skilled artisans to realise our products.” She describes the wood block carvers in Jaipur, and “their skill and patience when translating our paper designs into carved patterns on the blocks.” What stays with her is the satisfaction of helping to preserve heritage craft in a modern way. “I love that we are creating contemporary designs but using traditional time-honoured techniques.”
Alongside the main Home range, each year Judith curates the New Makers collection. Now in its eighth year, the programme gives a select group of artists a platform to sell their handmade pieces, with full profits being returned to them, along with expert guidance on growing their emerging businesses. “Each year we look to support emerging artisans who are blending traditional craft techniques with contemporary design,” says Judith. “The selections all explore technique, material and form to create something unique in the field of the handmade.”
This year’s collection features London-based artist Hannah Watts’s ceramic platters, created using the sgraffito technique. “We loved the bold pattern, colour and scale of her work,” she says, and notes the textile roots running beneath it. “As we are a very textile-led business, I particularly loved that many of her starting points stem from traditional African cloths, such as from the Ewe, Kente and Baule.” Also based in London, maker Jacob Marks experiments with pine resin to create a range of handles, lights and vessels. “His work feels so modern and new and yet he is using an ancient natural material to create pioneering work,” Judith says. She responds to the range in his practice, whether he is “creating refined elegant cabinet handles or exploring transparencies in pine resin suited to his lighting.”
San Francisco-based ceramicist Linnan Ye’s pieces are defined by delicacy and restraint. “We loved the delicate nature of Linnan’s work. The subtle colours and dappled patterning,” she says. “The forms are elegant and sculptural, and in combination, this makes her work feel fresh and contemporary.” Sitting alongside them, Japanese-Italian potter Yuichi Romita’s wood-fired pieces are defined by discipline and simplicity. “Yuichi is a master of form and technique,” Judith says. “His pieces are exquisitely crafted and have a beauty of simplicity that doesn’t need decoration.”
The collection also extends to jewellery. Based in Tallinn, Estonia, jeweller Egle Sitkauskaite’s practice centres on material transformation, which she calls “a physical dialogue with metal”. She works mainly with recycled sterling silver, sometimes oxidised or gold-plated. “We were drawn to the way Egle uses a combination of processes to explore the nature of metals and their properties,” says Judith. For larger pieces, the metal is forced under pressure until it splits, creating organic shapes. “Multiple processes are combined in styles like the large ring - one side is pressed and reticulated, and the other uses wax casting to explore the multiple possibilities of the material.”
The New Makers pieces complement the vision of the core Home range: they are designed to be lived with, and carry traces of the hands that made them. “We are passionate about supporting craft and the handmade, so the storytelling is as much a part of the collection as the products themselves.”
Discover our New Makers collection.
Words by Alice Simkins Vyce.
Photography by Aloha Bonser-Shaw and Suzie Howell.
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