Profile: Melanie Sharpham
Melanie Sharpham creates stunning ceramic pieces from her backyard studio in Kensington WA. The studio, edged by towering peppermint gums and her children’s sandpit, evokes a sense of playful nostalgia for a simpler time. Her forms too are simple - functional pieces full of beauty and harmony, drawing on nature for inspiration.
forever sky.”
Melanie began her training 15 years ago at TAFE under the instruction of influential WA artists Bev Gallop, Ian McRae, Joss Gregson and Bela Kotai; in 2004 she was selected to participate in ‘Designing Futures’, a programme run by FORM for emerging artists. From this training, Eucalypt Homewares was born in 2007. Although previous work was based on ‘object’ creation – objects with form but little or no function – Melanie’s current collections are almost solely functional pieces, including bowls, plates, mugs, platters and tea cups, as well as a range of gift and garden ware, children’s buttons and Christmas decorations.
“I like the idea of people using my work everyday, that it becomes a part of their lives, their families, their histories. I feel success comes from the functional and the everyday. Life is too fleeting not use beautiful things.”
With this in mind, Melanie prices all pieces in her collections within reach of most household buyers. Affordable art is important to this designer-maker.
“I have four kids – they’re messy and wonderful and clumsy and often, things break, it’s the nature of life and love and family. That’s why, although each piece is an artwork, it’s affordable and replaceable. Most of work isn’t meant to be just looked at, it’s meant to be enjoyed, used, sometimes abused, thrown in the dishwasher, loved, adored, chipped, passed down and, if broken, replaced.”