For many, this means bowls, cylinders, cups, or other small forms. These simple forms are important because they help establish basic principles like balance, proportion, and control. It’s common to revisit these forms many times because it’s best to keep things simple while you’re getting the feel for the process and materials. But, it can be boring. However, this repetition is how your hands learn to work consistently and how your mind learns what you need to know without unnecessary distractions.
Then, eventually, your hands will start making little alterations on their own. You might notice that you’re making a softer rim or a more rounded curve or a more even wall. But you didn’t think about it. That’s a good thing. That means you’ve learned it and you don’t need to spend energy thinking about it anymore. You also can’t force personal expression. It just happens after you get comfortable with the basics that enable it. You intended to make a curve and so you did. Now you can refine it.
Another reason to work within constraints is that it helps your creativity. When you’re focused on a narrow group of forms, you’re not worried about what to make, so you can think about the details. Every choice matters and feels important. It’s easy to get creative and feel like you’re expressing yourself when you have the time to think about all of the little things. But, if you never take the time to get comfortable with the work, you never really have the space to be creative.
And finally, the more you do this, the more you trust your hands. They don’t hesitate as much and you can focus on your ideas. Expression is a natural outcome of the process. You don’t wonder if the form will collapse, you wonder how it should feel or look or function. You trust yourself and you have the experience to back it up.
I love simple forms because they help me get where I want to go. And where I want to go is to make personal, expressive work. But simple forms are also the end in themselves. There’s great joy in repetition and the process of making something beautiful or perfect. That’s one of the reasons I love production work. It’s meditative and fulfilling at the same time.