Yellowtrace | Light, Lineage and Local Clay:
Inside the Szilvassy Studio at Collingwood Yards, Melbourne
by Dana Tomić Hughes | Interview and photography by Traianos Pakioufakis
February 20th, 2026

When photographer Traianos Pakioufakis recently visited the Szilvassy
studio and workshop at Collingwood Yards in Melbourne, he was struck
by something unexpected. “It didn’t feel like most of these sorts of
spaces,” he noted. “Definitely had an international gallery/museum vibe
in the materiality and quality of the work.”
Designed by Dion Hall, the space serves as both working studio and
showroom for ceramicist Shari Lowndes and her label Szilvassy.

Here, Traianos sat down with Shari and Dion to discuss light, lineage,
and the quiet power of clay.  

Traianos Pakioufakis: When I walked in to the space I was taken by the
quality of light, even as the sun dipped in and out from behind the clouds.
The light on the vessels against the metal shelves reminded me of the
Acropolis Museum in Athens and also some kind of ceramic preservation archive
—it really made me stop and look at each piece.

Shari Lowndes: I love how you refer to the space and your referral to
Acropolis Museum. The light conditions and volume is what influenced
me to take on the space. The idea of presenting the forms through an
archival model is interesting.

TP: Shari, for your Gemini series you experimented with glazing, and
you have named the pieces with Greek colours and materials. As a
Greek-speaking Australian, the names match the colours perfectly,
however your palette feels like variations on Australian red- and
yellow-earth terracotta. From where do you draw these tones?
SL: Colour is something I approach very intuitively when developing
glazes. I was less concerned with what the colours might represent or
reference, and more interested in how they behave emotionally for me.
That instinctive approach allows the process to remain open and less
structured for the pieces arrive in their finished state.

For the Gemini series I am leaning into my Greek lineage therefore it is
so nice that you feel the descriptions align! When I was thinking about
Gemini, I was really responding to the idea of being asked about connection
— how things relate to one another. Each vessel is formed from
two equal halves that come together to create a single body. That
physical joining is important to me; it’s not just a design choice, but a
way of talking about interconnectedness.

I was inspired by the Gemini constellation and the myth of Castor and
Pollux — twins that are distinct, yet inseparable. That tension between
duality and unity. For me, the vessels become a way to explore how
forms couple in balance: inner and outer, seen and unseen, material
and emotional. I wanted each piece to feel like a quiet container for
those intangible things — something familiar, but charged with a deeper
sense of presence.

See full article here