Episode 15: Simone Bodmer-Turner

Landon and Christopher speak with artist and designer Simone Bodmer-Turner about how notions of “place” can shape the production and presentation of an artist's work. Along the way, we discuss Simone's prior exhibitions with Emma Scully Gallery and Matter Projects, her thoughtful approach to the digital space, and the recent launch of the second iteration of her studio. 

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Transcript

Christopher Schreck: So where are you? Is this your home in Massachusetts? 

Simone Bodmer-Turner: Yeah, this is kind of one of the bedrooms I've made up into my little office for now. Yeah, we've been here for about two years. 

Christopher Schreck: Very nice. So tell us a bit about your land. You have your home, your studio workspace, and what else? 

Simone Bodmer-Turner: It's a bit mixed. Everything's kind of on top of itself. So there are some barns that we've been doing and plaster work in the warmer months and my big kiln that I moved from New York is there. 

Christopher Schreck: The infamous kiln. 

Simone Bodmer-Turner: Oh my gosh. I know. 

Landon Metz: How big is it? 

Simone Bodmer-Turner: It's, um, you know, I should know the dimensions off the top of my head, but it's like a walk-in refrigerator size.

Landon Metz: Whoa. 

Simone Bodmer-Turner: It took the most heavyweight tractor in town to get it off the truck. The guys in New York could get it onto a truck. They're in the Navy Yard, so there's many people using forklifts and all that kind of equipment, but they're like, we can't get it off the truck. So if you could figure out how to get somebody up there to unload it.

So we put out an emergency call to all the neighbors and people showed up with tractors and got it off. But it's here, um, not fully connected yet because winter hit, um, but it will be going in the springtime, which is exciting. 

Landon Metz: Where in Massachusetts are you? 

Simone Bodmer-Turner: We're in the Pioneer Valley, which is kind of central western.

So it's around the North Hampton Amherst area, but more up in the hill towns, that's what they call it, the hill towns, um, which it's really like the difference in snow and, um, temperature is actually quite noticeable when you're going from, uh, the lower lands where Amherst and everything is up into where we are.

Christopher Schreck: Yeah, I saw you posted recently that you've been tapping maple trees. 

Simone Bodmer-Turner: Yeah. It's this really special time of year right now where I feel like When I was in New York, it's kind of that dreaded period where it's not really winter anymore, but it's not yet spring. And you're kind of just waiting and hoping.

But here we discover that it's kind of this micro environment where it's time to prune the apple trees. It's maple syrup bean season. So it's essentially when the temperature is below freezing at night. And above freezing during the day. Uh, so the sap is moving from the roots up into the trees and you can do all this work then.

And so it kind of makes this small period of time really special. And also pressure on to get everything done before it's really spring. 

Landon Metz: Are the trees moving sap because they're preparing to wake up? 

Simone Bodmer-Turner: Yeah, exactly. So when the temperature rises, the sap goes up. And then of course, when it remains above freezing, then.

The trees start to bloom and the little buds and leaves and things are coming out. But right now it's just going up. It's like maybe and then going back down at night. 

Landon Metz: Wow, it's so beautiful. I had no idea. 

Simone Bodmer-Turner: Yeah, we didn't know either. Um, you know, two years ago, I guess maybe the first time we maple served was last year.

And we put the taps on the trees and the buckets. And I mean, it's so embarrassing to admit this. I fully expected maple syrup to come out of the trees. It is maple water, like a highly diluted source of that. Um, and then you boil it down essentially. So that's this period of time. It's really special. 

Christopher Schreck: And you had already owned the house for a period before you actually moved in full time. Is that right? 

Simone Bodmer-Turner: Yes, not that long. Um, it was 2021. So kind of tail end of the pandemic. And I tried to do it all for a while. I was going between and I. I had fantasies of keeping my apartment, keeping my studio, my partner also has an apartment, keeping the house. And I don't know how we thought that was going to work, but we tried and we went back and forth for about a year and a half and then fully committed to being here with of course many trips back to New York.

Christopher Schreck: Sure. So you mentioned the kiln a moment ago. I think anyone who's followed your work in recent years is probably familiar with how the move to this new environment has directly informed your process and output. It was the defining theme in your 2024 show at Emma Scully Gallery, Year Without a Kiln, where being separated from your usual space and tools led you to explore a range of new materials and methods.

At the time, would you say that the prospect of producing works under these unfamiliar circumstances was daunting? Was it exciting? Maybe a combination of the two? 

Simone Bodmer-Turner: Very daunting. I had done my whole first show entirely in ceramic, and I'd been very interested in working in other materials, but, you know, other materials really require an ecosystem of fabricators and community and also being able to give those fabricators the models and the work that they need to do their jobs and it.

As previously mentioned, I'm, I am quite a Luddite and I do everything extremely manually. So I've, you know, I've never modeled anything on a computer. Like, I wouldn't even know how to use the technical terms to describe what many, many designers use. And so yes, it was quite daunting. Emma and I had put together the show when I was still in New York and I don't think at the time of conception, I knew I was going to be moving my studio that year.

So I got up here with the prompt of the show and I have to figure this out. And I have no real way to work in ceramic at any sort of scale. I had a tiny kiln in the basement that, you know, runs off the house electricity. So I was able to make models. But other than that, I couldn't make anything of scale.

And one of the things that I've run up against in ceramic, and you can see it actually in my first show that was at Matter that was all in ceramic, is that because of the fragility of clay, especially if someone's going to sit on something or use a drawer or put any sort of weight on it, they have to be quite monolithic to really be able to support the weight.

And that, is one language of design, but I also was interested in all these much finer, more sinewy kind of shapes that just, if you did in ceramic, it would break instantly. So, you can see that in, in the work that I made in bronze and in wood, that I was able to work in shapes that wouldn't have been possible in clay.

I can model them in clay. But you know, the models that I delivered were, you know, they broke in transit to the different fabricators. Luckily they pieced them all back together and we worked on them as little puzzle pieces. But yeah, it was quite daunting, but an exciting challenge. I'm really pleased with the work that came out of it.

Christopher Schreck: Yeah, I mean, it's interesting to hear you speak about the fragility of clay, because something I've been impressed by in your work historically is that you have, to some degree, been able to use ceramics to produce a range of functional objects that go beyond the usual vases and vessels. There's been shelving, chairs, and other forms that were clearly meant to withstand use.

And it makes me wonder how you achieved that. Were you adding elements to your materials to strengthen them? What was the approach? 

Simone Bodmer-Turner: Completely. There was an amazing show at the MoMA a handful of years ago now, over five years, that was a ceramic show, incredible works that were made by putting pieces together, combining multiple huge pieces into larger pieces.

And I'd never seen that done before. And I left that show. with kind of a new perspective on what was possible within the material of ceramics. And, you know, I had all these shapes in my head, and I was like, what if you could combine them? What if you made joints in the way that you would with wood, and instead of, you know, having the joint fit together, or have there be, um, fasteners of some sort, metal, or what.

What have you in wood or other materials, you use something similar to ceramic, um, which for me has been mortar and the very sexy material of grout. Grout goes a long way. Um, and kind of made seams run together so that it did have this overall feeling of one fluid piece. Or in some pieces I did, I did a credenza, 700 pound credenza, that the mortar and grout lines were more You, you saw them more.

It was intended to read kind of like a relief where you do see the kind of the connection points. So I've experimented kind of both with hiding it and with not hiding it. But, yeah, that, that's how that scale was achieved. 

Landon Metz: Have you ever been to the Legere Museum in Biote in the south of France? 

Simone Bodmer-Turner: I haven't, but I've seen, he did the um, he did a ceramic relief at Columdor, didn't he?

Landon Metz: Uh, that would make sense, yeah. He would have been of that generation that hung out there a lot. 

Simone Bodmer-Turner: Yeah. The 

Landon Metz: whole facade of the museum is this ceramic piece in parts. 

Simone Bodmer-Turner: Beautiful. And it's 

Landon Metz: kind of what you were saying, it's really beautiful, fine chunks, and they're really visible. It's very beautiful. 

Simone Bodmer-Turner: Yeah. I love playing with both.

I think when I started, the intention was to hide it. So that it did read as one uniform piece and then I kind of liked the, the seams and what you could achieve by having the shapes feel combined and like puzzle pieces. I love the puzzle piece like look and it's kind of begun to translate into the work we're doing with interiors as well where based on need, we did them in multiple pieces and the intention was Or, initially, when we proposed the projects, this is earlier when we were first starting to do this kind of work, the idea was to blend them completely.

And then we got them to site, and you could see the seams. And I loved it, the client loved it, and we're like, let's leave it like this, and it's actually become part of the language of this work is the exposed seams and the puzzle piece like feel of that. It's funny how that happens. 

Christopher Schreck: So returning just for a moment to the idea of producing this work being daunting: I remember reading that on a personal level. A big part of the process was shedding your own preconceptions about what was and wasn't allowed within the scope of your practice. It sounded like you ultimately freed yourself of certain self imposed boundaries around how you work, as well as certain assumptions about how your work might be perceived and understood by your audience.

Simone Bodmer-Turner: Yeah. I mean, I think it's always an ongoing process, right? There's, you know, you begin somewhere and continue to shed layers around what you think is meant for you and what's not or what is a way that you're able to express yourself. Even backing up before then, though I will return to Emma, you know, I began in vases and I remember I was part of this women's salon group and I really wanted to make sculpture and I was so terrified to make sculpture.

I thought that if it wasn't functional, no one would know it was me and no one would buy it. 

Christopher Schreck: Sure. 

Simone Bodmer-Turner: And I remember in that women's salon group, um, one of my dear friends who's a painter and she was the leader of that, just being like, She was yelling at this at me. She was like, abandon functionality, abandon functionality.

It was amazing. And, and then I was able to start making sculpture when I had, I really, I didn't think it was for me. I didn't think I could do it. And then. I was making these freestanding sculptures and I really wanted to make furniture. I was like, oh my gosh, can I, can I make a chair in ceramic? It's a crazy thing to do.

And again, I had to jump over that hump to get to functional, like, really large scale ceramics. Um, and then with the work at Emma's. Yeah, I mean, in its way, it's kind of a it's a new language a bit. Of course, it is referential to my previous work. And there's some of the motifs like the little stairs and the bulbous ends of things and little points here and there.

I mean, it makes sense. Um, but It was unnerving to dive into that language and new materials at the same time and feel like it would be understood as my next journey of expression. But then you do it, and you realize that one, Nobody else cares. Like, you're, you know, you're so entwined in your own creative conversation that you really, you're limiting yourself, or I was limiting myself in terms of what I thought that I could make, um, in terms of shape and texture, and It actually all makes a lot more sense than you think it does when you're, when you're starting out, when you're starting something new.

Christopher Schreck: Yeah. Landon, I wonder how you relate to this, considering you've recently unveiled your first figurative canvases. 

Simone Bodmer-Turner: Mm, really? 

Landon Metz: Yeah, I mean, I think there's a tension, uh, when you're younger, especially, and when you're starting out, between Your intuition and the external validation that you get for things and the way your audience responds to the work that you're making and what you end up developing is a sort of synthesis between, you know, you, yourself, your, your personhood and your, your true self and the work and then the audience and all those things get really intermingled.

And then there's this weird tension at some point, I think, between the expectations of the audience and your own internal inclinations. And there's a conflict sometimes, at some point, because you feel as though you want to keep moving. When there's no audience, it's easy, you can do whatever you want.

There's no one watching. But when you have an audience, and the audience has a narrative, and you feel beholden to the narrative, it can, it can be challenging sometimes to move freely. And you have to let go. You do. I mean, At some point, if you refuse to let go, uh, it slows down the process of pushing the language forward.

Simone Bodmer-Turner: Totally. I feel like, you know, it's kind of a symptom of the commercialization of art and design where, you know, you have a successful language and that's what people want from you and that's what people expect from you. And if you're doing something else, you know, we all have to live, right? And I've talked to many artists and designers who, even when you're super successful, you feel limited by the language that people expect you to express yourself in.

And I just don't, I don't want to be limited by that. There's so many things I have in my head that I can't wait to make. And it might be two years, it might be ten years, it might be a lifetime. But would you necessarily look at it side by side, my previous work, and say, that makes sense together? Well, hopefully.

But, um, you know, not in an obvious way. 

Landon Metz: I think posterity belongs to external sources, you know? The audience is not within the artist's control. I think it's also not the role of the artist to decide whether or not something is good or will hit with an audience or will communicate in a particular way.

It's their job just to be authentically, truthfully themselves as often as possible. That's it. 

Simone Bodmer-Turner: Completely. 

Landon Metz: And if you can sit in that space and stand in your power and be the most genuine version of yourself and act intuitively and create from that place of openness and curiosity and vulnerability and truth Then it doesn't matter if if it connects with somebody.

It's just extra credit. You already did it. 

Simone Bodmer-Turner: I like that. Extra credit. 

Landon Metz: Yeah, the work is done. I mean if people like it if it resonates with people that's wholly out of your control and a really quick route to making You know disingenuous and bad art is to follow what other people want from you It's easy and like you say we live in and we all have to survive in some way, but, um, it, it is tricky when you tether Your financial means to your creative output, but staying true to that internal, uh, intuition is, at some point, it's also going to give you those returns if you chase, uh, unnecessary, imperfect truths, uh, coming from external sources, at some point that returns will diminish, you have to find that power to stay in yourself to be able to do it.

It's, it's tough. I understand the balance. It's tough for sure. 

Simone Bodmer-Turner: Completely. Yeah. And I mean, we're just, yeah. We're just people who are very fortunate to get to do our creative work as our professions and there's so much change in life and different, you know, the, the change to this location has been really informative in terms of what's influencing and inspiring me in terms of shape and there's just so many chapters and I think it's really important to be able to express where you are at that moment and what is exciting to you and the different ways that your, your passions and your curiosities change over the course of your life.

Landon Metz: How could they not? 

Simone Bodmer-Turner: Yeah. 

Landon Metz: We're, never the same person for very long. 

Simone Bodmer-Turner: Right. 

Christopher Schreck: It seemed, Simone, like a central theme or even thesis of the resulting show at Emma Scully was this question as to the nature and meaning of home; even the presentation itself echoed a living room with your work set amid a sofa a coffee table a fireplace and so on I'd be curious to hear how these notions of home and placemaking might have informed or even changed the way you currently see your work in terms of being grounded in concept versus function It seemed to me like the pieces you produced for year without a kiln were consciously made with the intention of being lived with, whereas some of your earlier work seemed to be rooted more in exploring material processes and arriving at new means of form and expression rather than being concerned with utility. So, generally speaking, where would you say this balance between design and function lands for you at this point in your career?

Simone Bodmer-Turner: Hmm, that's a good question. Function is not what I lead with, often, for better or for worse. I'm more interested in the whimsicality of an experience rather than a high functioning object. However, with this show and it being in parallel to the very beginning of my journey of making my first home for myself and, you know, my partner and hopefully a family one day.

The, the interest in functionality and kind of figuring out how to braid my more abstract concepts of what it's like to use a piece of furniture, use a light with something that both has a little bit of that magic, but also, you know, it's high functioning, thinking about the quality of the light that it casts.

as well as the shape that the light is coming out of, those kinds of things. It's just, you know, I intend for it to continue to evolve, but it is my first step in really thinking about how these objects fit into a domestic space and how they're used and the ease in which they are used. And kind of having those two things live, hopefully, in union together.

Um, not having too much of one or the other. I don't want super high functioning at the cost of strangeness and beauty. And I don't want strangeness and beauty at the cost of functionality. 

Christopher Schreck: Well put. As a segue, if I can make just one more reference to the Emma Scully show…

Simone Bodmer-Turner: Yeah. No, please. It was such a, it was such a great show and Emma's so, I feel so fortunate to be working with her. She's really a vision and an amazing force in kind of the up and coming design gallery world. 

Christopher Schreck: Yeah. I really love her programming. I think she's great. 

Simone Bodmer-Turner: Yeah. 

Christopher Schreck: Well, you briefly alluded to this earlier, but along with these questions of material and method and navigating functionality. It also seemed like the show led you to enter some interesting new territory in terms of collaboration and fabrication.

Yes. For one thing, you were reaching out to your new neighbors and discovering this network of local craftspeople. 

Simone Bodmer-Turner: Yeah, quite literally. 

Christopher Schreck: Right, which is really interesting because you're kind of fulfilling two journeys at once there. On one hand, you're trying to get a sense of the options available to you in terms of getting these new pieces made for your show.

But at the same time, you're discovering and establishing this new community, introducing yourself to all these people who surround your new place of living. 

Simone Bodmer-Turner: Completely. Um, It was a very slow, organic process of really, like, meeting neighbors, and meeting the neighbors in the good old fashioned way of them walking their dogs past your house.

And you're in the front yard, you know, working on one thing or another. And Through that method, you know, we learned about so and so down the street who, oh, that, you know, they do welding or, oh, have you heard of this foundry? I got something cast there in the seventies. I don't know if he's still there.

And, you know, that's the bronze foundry we're working with. So very word of mouth, um, because there are so many people who work with their hands here, both from farming to craft. And so it was. You know, the person who's doing the polishing is not our immediate neighbor, but two neighbors down. And he goes birdwatching every evening and would stop and talk on his way back.

And we learned through those conversations that he used to teach at actually the school that Scott was taking courses at. So Scott was driving to Boston and taking bronze casting classes. And we found out our, our neighbor used to teach there. And so now he's doing all the polishing work. So. Very organic, and just slowly getting to know, you know, who's around us and what kind of work they're doing, and, and reaching out and building relationships, um.

Landon Metz: It's really beautiful. The social fabric of the community becomes part of the language. 

Simone Bodmer-Turner: Completely. Yeah. I think the slowness of the way everything works here, and I, when I say slow, I mean that in a really beautiful way. It's a different pace of life. It has meant that All of the pieces are very intentional and they have so.

Many iterations of design before they go to the hands of the fabricators, because there's pretty much one chance to get something. Um, instead of, you know, being in the shop all the time and creating many iterations within the shop, um, I've been trying to be really respectful of everybody's time and only show up when I'm, like, really, really certain that, you know, because many people are I don't want to say volunteering their time, but they're being extremely generous with their time around figuring out how to make something that they haven't made before.

So, it does mean that I am forced in a, in a good way to really be thinking through all the steps of how something is made before I show up in the wood shop or the bronze shop. And, them working with them in a way that really fits into the work that they're already doing. And sometimes extra trading labor too, we've been helping out with people when they, when they need extra hands, because a lot of people are, you know, in their seventies and they could use extra hands on things.

So, yeah, it's been a. a beautiful way to work and really different than how I've ever worked before and how I hope to continue to, to have relationships with, with the people that are helping to create these pieces and bring them into the world. 

Landon Metz: It's like a cottage industry. 

Simone Bodmer-Turner: Yeah, exactly. It really is. It really is. It does feel like, especially when you get above a certain altitude in this area, like it's like stepping back in time. It feels like things haven't changed. that much in terms of neighborliness and people lending a hand and helping each other out and yeah. 

Christopher Schreck: So you're making contact with these local artisans while also reaching out to skilled individuals in Chicago and New York to help translate your ideas to these new materials.

I feel like this idea of not always needing to be literally hands on in the production of your work is a compelling one because I'm not sure it was necessarily baked into your approach when you started out. I'm sure it's been a natural consideration as your business has grown and you've explored editioning and so on, and I know this wasn't necessarily the first time that you'd worked with an outside fabricator in producing work for your solo shows either - I believe there was at least one piece in your 2021 show at Matter Gallery that was made that way – but it does make me curious as to how you've approached building your business and your studio team in recent years, the working processes you've developed and how you've come to define your own role in things along the way, as you've transitioned from a solo practitioner to essentially a small scale manufacturer. 

Simone Bodmer-Turner: Yeah, well, it's multi pronged, right? So, When I was in New York, I had a studio there with a team of ceramic artists, and so we did everything there, and there was very little outside fabrication except for the people at Matter helped with the, all the lighting components, and there was, you know, one other person in the building who helped with some metal components for that show, but for the most part, it was contained within the walls of the studio.

Here, where, you know, we've been in the process of rebuilding a ceramic studio that can, you know, Once again, offer workspace to ceramic artists up here, which we can get into the way that I've been working is much more like a web where everything is designed and sometimes prototyped here at our home and.

I've been doing a lot of driving to fabricators across bronze, iron, wood in the area. There's a larger foundry we work with in Chicago that does all of our lighting pieces because they're able to do both the lighting and the casting on one house, which is amazing for those pieces because they're fairly complex.

And then everybody else is pretty much a one man shop, one man or woman shop. And. They're incredibly skilled and knowledgeable about their craft, but for the most part are not, uh, well, that's not true. What I was going to say is they're not doing a large production of their own work, but that varies depending on who we're talking about.

But for the most part, it's one person shots, um, that are highly skilled in, a traditional craft, and they are quite traditional. The woodworker we work with, her specialty is in cabinet making and Windsor furniture, but she was able to do these kind of shaker style Chippendale tables for us that have these sculptural legs.

And then the bronze workers, we have them doing these, the and irons and the bowls for us. So I guess in consolidation, it's moved from everything being within a ceramic operation to really a web of fabricators working in tangent with each other. And often, one piece is going between multiple different, uh, shops.

So, starts in the bronze shop, goes to the iron shop, goes to the polisher in between. Some pieces go to three shops. And I'm out there driving in my Subaru, which is, um, not the long term plan, but it works for now and I'm happy to do it and means I get to actually be in the shops with everybody too, which is nice.

Christopher Schreck: Yeah, as someone who earlier in your career seemed outwardly to be very hands on in every step of producing your work, I imagine it's been an interesting journey as a business owner learning how to delegate, how to trust others and divide labor without your role becoming more managerial than creative.

Simone Bodmer-Turner: Yeah, I mean, I think if I'm being honest, I'm in a learning process again, especially because I'm rebuilding here. It's, it is a bit like starting again. However, I'm extremely grateful to have the relationships that I do have in New York, which is really different from starting again. But I’m doing a lot of work with my hands right now. I am re-educating myself on delegation, you know, it happens much more naturally when you don't have the skill set to do the work yourself, like bronze casting or ironworking, um, where of course you have to delegate. But with ceramic, it's more challenging. And I am in the process of that as we speak.

Christopher Schreck: Yeah. So in recent months, you have formally announced a new iteration of your studio, which has included a reimagined website. 

Simone Bodmer-Turner: Yes. 

Christopher Schreck: Which not only showcases your different modes of working, kind of demonstrating the diversity of your practice at this stage in your career, but also offers a range of supplemental features.

There's a library that gathers selections from influential publications drawn from your own personal collection. 

Simone Bodmer-Turner: Yes. 

Christopher Schreck: There's a journal in which you reflect on your studio practice and present conversations with collaborators and community members. And then a newsletter where you're sharing behind the scenes insights and inventory updates.

When we speak in terms of placemaking and the idea of home being a place of grounding and connection and intimacy, how would you say these ideas translate to the way you've constructed your website and in the way you've leveraged the digital space more broadly? 

Simone Bodmer-Turner: Well, over the last couple of years, three arms have kind of emerged out of the practice in a clear way: Ceramics, collectible design, and interiors. And when I say interiors, I mean site specific installation, not interior design. What was on the website for a long time was pretty much just ceramics. And the website was entirely geared towards that. It was geared almost entirely towards a shop. And the work that I was making no longer made sense to host in a shop context. And I've been very lucky to partner with 1of 1 Studios in New Zealand. They're amazing. And they did the first website and they've done a lot of, um, paper collateral for us over the years. And so I came to them with the complex assignment to create a digital space that could host all of these arms that we've sprouted and clearly delineate between the different types of work, the different ways that they're sold, the different kind of flows of how you interact with them. You know, the interior installation work is all custom. It's all, you know, working directly one on one with either a designer, architect, or the end client to create something entirely unique for a space where every specification is different in scale.

The collectible designs of furniture, lighting, decorative objects, they vary between editions or one of a kind. And so they live in a digital space where you can see multiple photos. You can get all the specifications so that designers can access that and be able to hand them on to their clients and decks.

But there, you know, it's not in a shoppable context. We handle all of that through email correspondence and all of that. And then we are bringing back the ceramic workshop as you know, we've been talking about. And so we will be reintroducing a shop concept where, you know, you can view and purchase within the website for the ceramics that we will be introducing in the spring and then again in the fall. Two different collections. Um, so hosting all these very different ways of working with the studio and, and trying to make that clear and also beautiful. And like you mentioned, we have a library now. Well, actually, we have had a library for a long time, but it's kind of hidden. Um, and the journal, which is a new component journal and newsletter, I was very resistant to, if I'm being honest. 

Christopher Schreck: Why is that? 

Simone Bodmer-Turner: I don't want to bother anybody. I'm like, everybody has so much on their plate.

Like, why would you want to hear from me? Um, but I have been convinced and, and now honestly really enjoying the space that it offers and the writing opportunities and interview opportunities that it offers. I, back in the day, went to school for English and, you know, I thought I'd be a journalist. So it's kind of a fun way to bring that back into my life and have, have a real excuse for having conversations with friends and mentors and other people in the creative community that have been either directly impacting my practice through collaborations or people who have just really paved the way for me through their support. So I'm excited about that all evolving. 

Christopher Schreck: Yeah. I think some artists treat their digital presence simply as a means of centralizing and showcasing their work, maybe spreading the word about upcoming events or press. And there's nothing wrong with that, but there are others that treat it as a creative outlet in itself, uh, or even as an active extension or branch of their practice. Where on that spectrum would you say you fall? 

Simone Bodmer-Turner: Depends on the day. I really vacillate between being very, very private and within and having so much to share. Around inspiration and process and place. Um, and I really, I do swing between the two and I am attempting to be more consistent, but I like both models.

I think that to each their own, but I am really excited about the world building element that the website has to offer and continuing to get to share. You know, what happens behind the scenes and how these pieces come to life with whoever is there to read it, if anybody is there to read it. Hopefully they are.

Christopher Schreck: Yeah. So you're set to debut several new collections and typologies over the course of the coming year. Can you give us a sense of what's coming down the pipeline? For instance, it sounds like you have a few interiors focused projects in the works. 

Simone Bodmer-Turner: Yes, so we've done a number of mantles, fireplaces, um, over the last year that we haven't been able to share yet, but we will be able to share them over the course of this year, which is really exciting.

Um, we just finished our first ceiling release, which was really a feat of engineering on my partner's part. So it's a entire entryway that has a plaster relief weaving across the ceiling and an integrated light that's kind of part of the whole sculpture. And then we will be doing our first study.

Um, so it's two and a half walls of a room, um, that will be completely sculpted out with the integrated shaves and a desk, um, that looks out over the sea in the summertime. So the projects keep growing, which is really exciting. I've been so grateful for people's trust in our vision and ability to create, um, something unique that kind of fits within the way that they're intending to use the space, which is often quite, um, I'm very grateful to have some amazing clients who come with very specific ideas about how they want this space to feel and how they want it to serve their life and their practices.

So we have a number of those this year, and then we will be bringing vases into the picture again, which was what this, uh, the foundation of the studio was built on. Um, so there's a whole new typology of work that is influenced on this place, whereas I think about it this way. The first collection of vases, well first couple because there was several iterations, I was in New York, flowers are extremely expensive, and I was designing for very minimal arrangements.

You know, the openings are quite small, the point of this, the pieces are the vase, and you're intended to honestly not either not put anything in it. Or to put, you know, just a few stems. I mean, the founding piece in that collection that all of the permanent collection evolved from was called the single stem vase that was supposed to be an expression of a bud vase, but, you know, I wanted it to have legs and arms and really be expressive and, and also kind of frame this one stem that you picked up at the flower market or bodega, you know, and here.

We're, you know, we're surrounded by all this wild grass, and there's Queen Anne's lace everywhere, and goldenrod, and there's so much abundance of plant life. These vases are intended to really highlight that, so they have big open mouths and, you know, everything's supposed to fall out and be wild, and so there is kind of a real difference in the language based on what I'm imagining being within them.