Our Story
Ceramics, one of humans’ most ancient crafts, reminds us that wherever our minds drift in the digital age, we still have our feet planted on the ground. For thousands of years, we’ve lived on earth, gathered from earth, and transformed earth into functional art.
One of the maker’s earliest try-outs. Decorative elements come straight from the ground outside her studio. When the photo was taken, this piece was in the green-ware stage—the moisture in the clay had dried out, and without water, the piece could no longer be bent without getting shattered. It was ready to be fired for the first time.
The maker, E. Y. Xue, started doing pottery as an alternative to therapy. She was immediately transfixed by the art form. Though starting off clumsy, she enjoyed witnessing the process of a piece of clay morphing in her hands, often surprised by the delightful deviations from an original shape in mind.
Ceramics is a forgiving craft. Before the clay turns dry, the maker can change it indefinitely. There are no mistakes. With time and patience, we forge negligible materials into shapes that infinitely approach perfection.
While naming the brand, the maker wanted to accentuate how ceramics makes her feel connected to earth, whenever it crosses her mind that the clay in her hands are essentially dirt. It’s a reassuring realization that helps dismiss the feeling of emptiness whenever she sees a 4 hours+ screen time on her phone.
Y on Earth hopes to bring not just physical objects, but also a therapeutic mindset that keeps our customers grounded in a digital age. One section of the website is the maker’s own journals. She wishes to invite conservations and build a community that shares the love for ceramics, our own hands, and the physical world by and large.