Kitsch calling

Artist Richard Stratton. Photo / Babiche Martens

Think of the Mad Hatter's Tea Party and it will give you a fair idea of the lavish ceramic pieces Wellington-based artist Richard Stratton creates. His new exhibition, Old Sins Cast Long Shadows, at the Anna Miles Gallery showcases new pieces including teapots, jardinieres, a tureen and other beautiful ceramic centrepieces. Stratton's work focuses on historical ceramic techniques, with a modern and luxurious feel - and though some pieces are a play on the humble teapot, they're more along the lines of a bold ornamental figure. His favourite things reflect his penchant for the kitsch and historical, from buffalo bone modelling tools to obscure pieces scoured from tips.

Old Sins Cast Long Shadows, Anna Miles Gallery, Suite 4J, 47 High St, Auckland. December 2-23.

10 favourite things

1 Antique buffalo bone modelling tools

Probably made in China. My favourite tools in the world. I like the idea of using old things and old materials to make new work.

2 Royal Worcester milk jug

A blue, white and red milk jug with enamelled lustre from a big house in Dunedin, that had been dumped in Lake Logan in the 1800s. This kicked off my obsession with understanding how things are made and my interest in all kinds of highfalutin' ceramics like the Sevres, Meissen and Minton-related work I do now. In 1991 I was having a break from pottery with a group of friends at the student cafe, when we ran into people from the local bottle-hunting club who had just pulled this and a whole lot of bone eating utensils out of a piece of land destined to become student accommodation and carparks. Later Otago Museum wanted it for its permanent collection. When we shifted overseas, I lost it.

3 Clear plastic Virgin Mary

From my next-door neighbour's estate auction. I enlarged her breasts and added a clay bump to mock-up pregnancy, then recast her for the Affirmation of Mary centrepiece in my new show.

4 Cheap metal repro rococo wine ewer

With face on the spout and a handle based on a dog's head. Because it was so ostentatious and I knew I could use it, it jumped out from a whole lot of 1960s plastic kitchenware in an op shop in outback Australia.

5 Manual of Practical Potting

Published in 1897. The guy who originally owned it, Rowley, was brought over from England to restart the Milton Pottery in New Zealand. This book is full of English trade secrets.

6 Tip shops

If I want to buy something big, I go to the tip shop. I picked up a ready-to-assemble 1930s oak gramophone cabinet to add to my hotchpotch collection of furniture for the house. I've already got a bequest list - furniture my friends are after.

7 $2 Len Castle wall bottle

Money on the wall, so to speak.

8 Sets of china paints

I collect deceased china painters' sets of china paints that come in handmade plywood boxes, basically so I can build up a supply of colours no longer manufactured. The vials they come in are pretty special, too. My studio has become a repository for old materials - stains oxides, pigments glaze materials, very, very hard-to-get old ingredients. I stockpile them for use at a later date.

9 Yixing teapot

Possibly early 19th century, with a faux bamboo body, spout and cherry blossom handle. It looks like someone has cut a small section out of piece of bamboo and a cherry tree. Teapots are shits to make - when you want to be a purist the spout has to sit in the right position, it has to be the right volume and shape to balance the handle - and they have to work. A teapot is basically a pot with appendages. I love them. I don't like handmade brown 1970s New Zealand ones though, think they're hideous. I prefer Chinese, or European variants.

10 Yvonne Sanders Architectural Warehouse

The first time I went there, I nearly walked into two massive Moroccan teak doors. If I ever build a house, I'd buy all the stuff here to fill up with my shabby chic stuff I get from the tip. 300 Onehunga Mall, Auckland.