JAN ERNST
Jan Ernst (Born in 1990 in Kroonstad, South Africa) is a multidisciplinary functional designer based in Cape Town, South Africa. Drawing from nature as inspiration, Jan Ernst creates elegant and alluring ceramic designs that delicately balance form and function. For him, ceramics is linked to exploration, experimentation and finding equilibrium in composition, structure and materiality.
Jan Ernst is a multidisciplinary creative specializing in functional art and spatial design using clay as his main medium. The work is driven by his fascination with natural structures such as corals, fungi, and rock formations. His organic designs stem from his abstract understanding of form and space influenced by his background in architecture, his connection with the natural world, and his South African heritage.
With an educational background in architecture, Ernst’s main medium is clay, through which he brings to life gracefully gorgeous organic designs. Although his formal journey into ceramics began later in life, the little mud houses and clay villages made in his childhood ignited a passion he would later pursue.
Tactility, peculiarity, decay and delight are all significant principles that hold the work of the Cape Town-based artist. He doesn’t shy away from contradiction, durability and nuance are handled with great finesse.
Jan Ernst
The work is influenced by Jan Ernst's fascination with natural structures such as corals, fungi, and geological formations. The designs have evolved into functional art and sculptural furniture expressed mainly through ceramics and gypsum. Handmade in Capetown.
Jan Ernst
There is a monolithic quality to it due to its size and visual mass that anchors this collectible design body of work. The work is influenced by his fascination with natural structures such as corals, fungi, and geological formations. The designs have evolved into functional art and sculptural furniture expressed mainly through ceramics and gypsum
Jan Ernst
The Womb Lamp series is inspired by the mountain landscape near Cape Town. The area is known for its sculptural rock formations in shades of terracotta, amber, and ochre.
Jan Ernst
This coral inspired candelabra has 6 Arms and can hold up to 6 candles. Although it is functional, the shape of this candelabra also suggests the curves of a sculpture. You can place it on your dinner table, coffee table, kitchen island, countertop. The choice is yours.
Jan Ernst
The work is influenced by Jan Ernst's fascination with natural structures such as corals, fungi, and geological formations. The designs have evolved into functional art and sculptural furniture expressed mainly through ceramics and gypsum. Handmade in Capetown.
Jan Ernst
The work is influenced by Jan Ernst's fascination with natural structures such as corals, fungi, and geological formations. The designs have evolved into functional art and sculptural furniture expressed mainly through ceramics and gypsum. Handmade in Capetown.
Jan Ernst
The work is influenced by Jan Ernst's fascination with natural structures such as corals, fungi, and geological formations. The designs have evolved into functional art and sculptural furniture expressed mainly through ceramics and gypsum. Handmade in Capetown.
Jan Ernst
Parts of the legs were shaped to look like rock extending out of the earth while scarification detailing references a man-made object. The concealed light fitting in the clay body illuminates the sphere and gives the impression of an eye watching.
Jan Ernst
The Womb Lamp series is inspired by the mountain landscape near Cape Town. The area is known for its sculptural rock formations in shades of terracotta, amber, and ochre.
Jan Ernst
The Womb Lamp series is inspired by the mountain landscape near Cape Town. The area is known for its sculptural rock formations in shades of terracotta, amber, and ochre.
Jan Ernst
The WOMB lighting collection evokes our deep seated feeling of ‘the primal’ and unlocks the unknown potential that is hidden in the cavities of our world while celebrating life through luminescence. “Walking these ancestral grounds prompts a feeling of reverence and mystique for the people who once inhabited the interleaving Stadsaal Caves. Tremendous voids and cracks shaped by the natural elements created shelter for the first humans who settled in this region. I was fascinated and humbled to witness such signs of life depicted through intricate murals on the cave walls. These moments spent in the caves were a revelation for me on both a personal and artistic level, and inspiration for the new collection.”
Jan Ernst
The WOMB lighting collection evokes our deep seated feeling of ‘the primal’ and unlocks the unknown potential that is hidden in the cavities of our world while celebrating life through luminescence. “Walking these ancestral grounds prompts a feeling of reverence and mystique for the people who once inhabited the interleaving Stadsaal Caves. Tremendous voids and cracks shaped by the natural elements created shelter for the first humans who settled in this region. I was fascinated and humbled to witness such signs of life depicted through intricate murals on the cave walls. These moments spent in the caves were a revelation for me on both a personal and artistic level, and inspiration for the new collection.”
Jan Ernst
The WOMB lighting collection evokes our deep seated feeling of ‘the primal’ and unlocks the unknown potential that is hidden in the cavities of our world while celebrating life through luminescence. “Walking these ancestral grounds prompts a feeling of reverence and mystique for the people who once inhabited the interleaving Stadsaal Caves. Tremendous voids and cracks shaped by the natural elements created shelter for the first humans who settled in this region. I was fascinated and humbled to witness such signs of life depicted through intricate murals on the cave walls. These moments spent in the caves were a revelation for me on both a personal and artistic level, and inspiration for the new collection.”
Jan Ernst
The WOMB lighting collection evokes our deep seated feeling of ‘the primal’ and unlocks the unknown potential that is hidden in the cavities of our world while celebrating life through luminescence. “Walking these ancestral grounds prompts a feeling of reverence and mystique for the people who once inhabited the interleaving Stadsaal Caves. Tremendous voids and cracks shaped by the natural elements created shelter for the first humans who settled in this region. I was fascinated and humbled to witness such signs of life depicted through intricate murals on the cave walls. These moments spent in the caves were a revelation for me on both a personal and artistic level, and inspiration for the new collection.”
Jan Ernst
The WOMB lighting collection evokes our deep seated feeling of ‘the primal’ and unlocks the unknown potential that is hidden in the cavities of our world while celebrating life through luminescence. “Walking these ancestral grounds prompts a feeling of reverence and mystique for the people who once inhabited the interleaving Stadsaal Caves. Tremendous voids and cracks shaped by the natural elements created shelter for the first humans who settled in this region. I was fascinated and humbled to witness such signs of life depicted through intricate murals on the cave walls. These moments spent in the caves were a revelation for me on both a personal and artistic level, and inspiration for the new collection.”
Jan Ernst
The fossil floor light was inspired by my fascination with shells, exoskeletons, and stone imprints. The coastline of South Africa varies from rugged and dramatic cliffs crashing into the oceans to sandy beaches that are gentle.
