Craft

GoodlyGOLD Ceramics

Melbourne’s Danielle Maugeri is probably best known by the nickname ‘Dani M’. Under this name she  has gathered a loyal following for her distinctive handcrafted jewellery, made under the name ‘Dani M Designs‘ since 2001.

In recent years, though, Dani has been experimenting with an entirely different aesthetic. GoodlyGOLD Ceramics is a side project which gives Dani the space to create in a more intuitive way.  Her latest range, ‘The Deadbeat Club’, brings together a motley crew of wonderfully wonky handcrafted ceramic vessels.

Written
by
Annie Portelli

Danielle Maugeri of GoodlyGOLD in her Ascot Vale studio. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

Ink blots and splatter ceramics by Danielle Maugeri of GoodlyGOLD. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

Dani at work in her studio. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

Studio details. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

A collection of ceramics by Melbourne based ceramicist and jeweller Danielle Maugeri of GoodlyGOLD. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

Vases in progress before being glazed. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

GoodlyGOLD ceramics. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

GoodlyGOLD HQ in Ascot Vale. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

Writer
Annie Portelli
18th of September 2016

Melbourne maker Dani Maugeri originally trained in Industrial Design at Swinburne, but after graduating, she soon realised she didn’t have much interest in becoming a traditional designer, or working 9.00 to 5.00. Instead, she began experimenting with silversmithing and ceramics, and in 2001 launched her own jewellery line, Dani M Designs.

Under this brand name, Dani makes fine jewellery using silver, gold and coloured porcelain in distinctive muted tones. It’s been hugely successful business for Dani – she’s been running her little label for 15 (!!) years now, and her meticulously handcrafted pieces can be found in various stockists nationally.

However, over time – as tends to happen with so many creative people – Dani has become a little restless. In the last year she decided to go ‘back to basics’ and try to loosen up a little, the result of which is a new side project – GoodlyGOLD Ceramics.

‘I established GoodlyGOLD as an outlet for the more unconventional ideas I have, with a more one-off / handmade feel’ says Dani.

Whilst her creative output in previous years has been generally characterised by fully resolved forms, meticulously planned, sketched, and even 3D printed, Dani M’s latest range of ceramics for GoodlyGOLD is purposefully loose.

‘I began with the simplest form of pottery I could think of, pinch potting, letting the clay and my hands guide the shapes (almost like meditation) and avoiding the urge to make them all perfect and identical…  letting each one become it’s own little ‘person’. Dani explains. Naming her latest collect  ‘The Deadbeat Club’, Dani sees these ceramic creations as endearingly imperfect beings – ‘They shouldn’t necessarily be loveable, yet they are’ she says.

GoodlyGOLD Ceramics are stocked at Modern TimesMelbournaliaCollector StoreCraft Victoria and in Dani’s online store.

 

Danielle Maugeri of GoodlyGOLD in her Ascot Vale studio. Photo – Amelia Stanwix for The Design Files.

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