Ceramics Commission · Client Work · Project 262 — 2022
40 slip-cast ceramic vessels with a blackboard surface. Made to be rewritten — not replaced.
The problem
A new beer garden meant tables in two zones with layouts that changed every weekend — and a table-numbering system that assumed they never would.
What I made
Forty fired ceramic vessels with a rewritable surface: any table, any zone, renumbered in under a minute.
What made it hard
The requirement was operational, but the object had to live in a room people drink in — and outdoors, on paving, in Scottish weather.
The turn
Printed cards and plastic holders solve a fixed problem, and this problem was not fixed — every reprint is a reprint you do again next weekend. So the answer stopped being a better static solution and became a surface that absorbs the change entirely. A chalk-conditioned ceramic exterior takes any configuration in under a minute, and because it is fired ceramic rather than plastic it adds to the atmosphere of the room instead of adding noise to it.
40
Units produced — one month
∞
Rewritable table configurations
2
Venue zones — indoor & beer garden
Slip casting — two-part mould
Ready for bisque firing
Mould 02 — plaster jacket
Greenware — pre-bisque drying
Batch loading — kiln
Making
Wheel-thrown masters
Master forms thrown on the wheel in stoneware clay. The form is compact and weighted low — stable on uneven garden paving, unlikely to be knocked. Wall thickness kept consistent to give each piece the same weight and presence across the run.
Slip casting — two-part mould
Two moulds cast from the wheel-thrown masters. Casting from moulds rather than throwing each piece individually was the only way to produce 40 consistent units inside a one-month timeline while maintaining quality across the batch. Each cast monitored for wall thickness and surface integrity before release.
Bisque fire — unglazed exterior
Fired to bisque temperature. The exterior is deliberately left unglazed. The slight tooth of the bisque surface is essential — the blackboard paint needs that texture to bond properly and survive repeated wiping without flaking. A glaze would smooth the surface and undermine the entire solution.
Blackboard paint — masked & cured
Blackboard paint applied to the exterior body in controlled coats, masked to keep the rim and interior clean. Cured fully before conditioning with chalk — a step that fills the surface grain and prevents ghosting when numbers are wiped off. Delivered write-ready from day one.
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Finished vessel — blackboard exterior
In situ — pub table setting
The full run — 40 units
The Solution
Why ceramic and not print
"The blackboard surface doesn't just solve the problem — it absorbs it entirely."
Printed table numbers solve a fixed layout. Greene King's layout wasn't fixed — it changed weekly, seasonally, and per event. Any static solution would need replacing or reprinting constantly.
The ceramic vessel with a blackboard exterior removes the problem from the workflow. Staff wipe and rewrite in under a minute. The pieces don't accumulate a depreciation cost because they never become outdated. They're as useful at a private event as on a regular Thursday evening.
The ceramic material itself does extra work: it looks deliberate on a table in a way a plastic holder or printed card doesn't. That distinction matters in a hospitality setting. Objects that look considered make spaces feel considered.
The layout changes every weekend. The surface absorbs it entirely. — Project 262, Greene King Commission, 2022
Specification
| Client | Greene King Pub & Grill — new beer garden expansion requiring flexible table numbering across two zones. |
| Deliverable | 40 ceramic table number holders. Slip-cast from two moulds, unglazed exterior, blackboard paint finish. |
| Form | Compact, low-centred vessel. Stable on uneven surfaces. Resistant to being knocked. Bisque-fired stoneware. |
| Surface | Blackboard paint — applied in controlled coats, masked at rim and interior, fully cured and chalk-conditioned on delivery. |
| Timeline | Produced within one month alongside THUDPUK development at TwoSix Design, Aberdeen. |
| Studio | TwoSix Design, Aberdeen — Product Design Internship, 2022. |
Where it landed
The full run of 40 vessels was produced, finished and delivered inside one month — the only commission completed during the internship. Delivered chalk-conditioned so the surface was write-ready from day one, with no ghosting, across both zones.
What it unblocked
The venue reconfigures itself now. A private event, a summer layout, a weekend change — staff renumber in minutes with no reprint, no reorder and no call to anyone. The system absorbs a layout it has never seen before, which is the thing the printed cards could never do.