A handbuilt ceramic pot in speckled white with harlequin diamond shapes in cobalt blue, burnt orange, and red — and two small horse heads rising from the rim like they own the place. The Circus Pot is Mariette Groen at her most playful and most precise, a piece that holds flowers, pencils, or nothing at all with the same quiet confidence.
The body is wide and generous — 5.5 inches tall, 5.5 inches across — with a 3.25 inch opening that works for a loose bunch of ranunculus, a few stems of something wild, or a single dramatic branch. The diamond shapes wrap around the full circumference, shifting in color and intensity as the glaze moved in the kiln. The horses face opposite directions. Nobody knows why and that's fine.
Up close, the detail is remarkable — the speckled clay showing through the glaze, the hand-pressed texture of the body, the bronze where the glaze pooled around the horses' necks. From across the room, it just looks like the most interesting thing on the shelf.
WHY IT'S SPECIAL
- Two hand-sculpted horse heads at the rim: each one different, each one unmistakably Mariette Groen.
- Harlequin diamond pattern: cobalt blue, burnt orange, and red on speckled white — hand-applied and unrepeatable.
- Wide, generous form: at 5.5" tall and 5.5" diameter, it holds its own as a sculptural object or a working vase.
- Bronze glaze detail at the horses' necks: where the kiln took over and made its own decisions.
- Entirely one of a kind: this specific combination of color, form, and character exists once.
DETAILS
- Handbuilt ceramic pot
- Height: 5.5"
- Opening: 3.25"
- Diameter at widest point: 5.5"
- Finish: speckled white glaze with hand-applied cobalt, burnt orange, and red diamond details; bronze accent
- Each piece is unique — this is a one of a kind object
- By Catto Studio, founded by Mariette Groen
- Small-batch production
THE BRAND
Catto Studio is the ceramic practice of Mariette Groen — handbuilt objects that sit between utility and storytelling. Inspired by natural forms, seasonal rhythms, and the slow logic of making things by hand, each piece is meant to be lived with quietly. Not decorative in the obvious sense. More like something that belongs wherever you put it, and you can't quite imagine the room without it anymore.
