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Collection

Pot Variations

Designer

Aldo Bakker

We first approached Aldo Bakker in 2019 to design a family of objects for J. HILL’s Standard. We were drawn by the lightness that suffuses all of Aldo’s objects. This quality springs partly from his strong sense of play and humour. Beauty, magic, escape from the world of noise into embodied calm and quietness –these things are fugitive but to the fore in everything he creates. The capture of an early primary gesture led to an exploration of ideas though extended conversation and sketches over the last two years.

This painstaking process, in many ways enabled by extended pandemic lockdown, led to the incubation of a family of forms. From this pool of potential, a handful of pieces came into being. A deliberate openness to possibility in the design stage lead us on a journey of method and material discovery: each piece enacting its identity in various materials – glass both blown and kiln cast, brass, stone and porcelain. This is POT VARIATIONS, a family of things, each bearing its own name and individual characteristics.

Cloud Pipe Collection

The Cloud Pipe Collection is a series of sculptural smoking pipes that drift between function and form—an airy puff of smoke rendered in handcrafted porcelain and mouth-blown glass. Designed as both a functional smoking vessel and a contemporary art object, these sculptural pipes invite interaction without demanding it. They can be held, used, displayed, or simply contemplated.

Available in fine porcelain and hand-blown borosilicate glass, the Cloud Pipe embodies the fleeting made tangible—an elevated take on the classic smoking pipe, where craftsmanship meets quiet ceremony.

Brown glass Cloud Pipe photographed on a white background to highlight its sculptural, cloud-like form.Woman smoking a mouth-blown glass Cloud Pipe, smoke drifting gently through a dark, atmospheric scene that highlights the sculptural elegance of the piece.
Cloud Pipe - Amber Glass Sale price€90,00
Porcelain Cloud Pipe photographed on a white background to highlight its sculptural, cloud-like form.Porcelain Cloud Pipe photographed on a white background to highlight its sculptural, cloud-like form.
Cloud Pipe - Gray Porcelain Sale price€90,00
Blown glass Cloud Pipe photographed on a white background to highlight its sculptural, cloud-like form.Five Cloud Pipes in glass and porcelain on a wooden table, illuminated by soft daylight filtering through curtains, showcasing form, material, and transparency.
Cloud Pipe - Gray Glass Sale price€90,00
Sage porcelain glass Cloud Pipe photographed on a white background to highlight its sculptural, cloud-like form.Pair of porcelain Cloud Pipes with soft, organic contours, displayed on a white background, blending function and form in minimalist design.
Cloud Pipe - Sage Green Porcelain Sale price€90,00
Clear blown glass Cloud Pipe photographed on a white background to highlight its sculptural, cloud-like form.Five Cloud Pipes in glass and porcelain on a wooden table, illuminated by soft daylight filtering through curtains, showcasing form, material, and transparency.
Cloud Pipe - Clear Glass Sale price€90,00

HopStep Collection

The HopStep family come in kiln cast glass, blown glass, porcelain and stone.
This piece is the pivotal one. The name comes from the initial sketched gesture that Aldo needed to get out. A bouncing tick. A hop and a step.

The movement gives the piece its life. Making the final piece in cast crystal is complex, each stage, from building the moulds to hand-sculpting the final piece is slow and precise. Figuring it out involved a two-year research process with Richard Whiteley of Corning Studio, into the making of HopStep and Moustache. Richard is an artist and teacher at Corning. His work focuses primarily on cast glass and explores voids as the primary constructive agent. In his words: ‘The works are built from the inside out; voids are ordered first and external structures are built to encapsulate these spaces. The works explore negative space using glass as a substrate’. Future editions will be made at our studio in Ireland as the ultimate goal is the development and transfer of skills.
HopStep pot in kiln-cast blown glass shown on a white background to highlight its sculptural, organic form.Kiln-cast blown glass pot on a warmly lit table, with light filtering through the translucent form and foliage inside, showcasing craftsmanship and material depth.
Hopstep Glass Pouring Vessel - Amber Sale price€120,00
HopStep pot in kiln-cast blown glass perfect for sake, oil, tea or infusing shown on a white background Kiln-cast HopStep glass pot on a warmly lit table, with light filtering through the translucent form and foliage inside, showcasing craftsmanship and material depth.
Hopstep Glass Pouring Vessel - Gray Sale price€120,00
HopStep pot in ochre porcelain, perfect for oil, sake, tea or infusing shown on a white background.HopStep pot in ochre porcelain, perfect for oil, sake, tea or infusing shown on a white background.
Hopstep Porcelain Pouring Vessel - Ochre Sale price€180,00
HopStep pot in brown porcelain, perfect for oil, sake, tea or infusing shown on a white background.HopStep pot in brown porcelain, perfect for oil, sake, tea or infusing shown on a white background.
Hopstep Porcelain Pouring Vessel - Brown Sale price€180,00
HopStep pot in red porcelain, perfect for oil, sake, tea or infusing shown on a white background.HopStep pot in red porcelain, perfect for oil, sake, tea or infusing shown on a white background.
Hopstep Porcelain Pouring Vessel - Red Sale price€180,00
HopStep pot in noir porcelain perfect for oil, sake, tea or infusing shown on a white background.HopStep pot in noir porcelain perfect for oil, sake, tea or infusing shown on a white background.
HopStep Belge Noir Stone Pouring Vessel Sale price€4.800,00
HopStep pot in lead crystal glass perfect for oil, sake, tea or infusing shown on a white background.HopStep pot in lead crystal glass perfect for oil, sake, tea or infusing shown on a white background.
HopStep Lead Crystal Pouring Vessel (Limited Edition) Sale price€4.800,00
HopStep
HopStep
We first approached Aldo Bakker in 2019 to design a family of objects for J. HILL’s Standard. We were drawn by the lightness that suffuses all of Aldo’s objects. This quality springs partly from his strong sense of play and humour. Beauty, magic, escape from the world of noise into embodied calm and quietness –these things are fugitive but to the fore in everything he creates. The capture of an early primary gesture led to an exploration of ideas though extended conversation and sketches over the last two years.

This painstaking process, in many ways enabled by extended pandemic lockdown, led to the incubation of a family of forms. From this pool of potential, a handful of pieces came into being. A deliberate openness to possibility in the design stage lead us on a journey of method and material discovery: each piece enacting its identity in various materials – glass both blown and kiln cast, brass, stone and porcelain. This is POT VARIATIONS, a family of things, each bearing its own name and individual characteristics.