MDW | Domestic Revery – The Beauty of Useful Objects

Laura Veleff is an artist and maker living and working in the Central Victorian Goldfields on Dja Dja Wurrung Country. She has had a dedicated full-time ceramics practice for over ten years. Laura works predominantly on the potter’s wheel to create sculptural and functional ceramic work imbued with a deep love for the natural world and respect for its materials. Since moving from Melbourne to Djaara Country, Laura’s more recent work engages with the complex narrative and history of her surroundings, contending with the lasting impacts of human actions and in particular the extractive nature of pottery-making. Her work ultimately conveys an interest in how surrounding spaces and environment can influence how and what people make, use and value. Laura is currently undertaking further study at SoCA (School of Clay and Arts) in Brunswick, and has work represented at Craft Victoria, pépite, Stockroom Kyneton and Castlemaine Art Gallery. Laura has had two solo exhibitions and has been included in several group shows. Laura also runs her own retail pottery business, Leaf and Thread Ceramics, supplying her handmade planters to stores across Victoria and New South Wales, giving expression to her interest in domestic spaces, gardening and indoor plants.

Alex Veleff
The son of Swiss and Bulgarian immigrants, Alex Veleff moved to Melbourne from Gippsland where his family first settled in the 1950s, where he ran his own furniture-making business in Lygon Street, East Brunswick from the late 1970s through to the 1990s. While moving away from manufacturing during the 2000s, Alex has continued his furniture-making on a personal level and now focuses on commission-based pieces. Alex’s masterful work is influenced by the materials he sources – using reclaimed timbers and looking closely at the figuring of each individual piece of wood. He enjoys the design challenge posed by working with the individual character of wild, naturally flawed timbers.