Sergey Ailarov: Smooth Bent Brandy with Horn

Given Ailarov's appreciation for the natural beauty of briar, it's not surprising that he takes a similarly organic approach to his accents. Rather than adorning a piece with bright sterling silver or other precious metals, Sergey prefers working with horn and natural hardwoods, and always as a complement to the composition as a whole. In this tight-knit, muscular bent Brandy, for example, we find a domed, horn ferrule, its pale shade accentuating the lighter tones of the smoky contrast stain itself, while also serving as a smooth visual transition from shank to stem.

Such an accent, then, not only works to complement the overall color palette, but is actually an integral part of the form itself — allowing the taper of the upward-flicking shank to continue into the stem, without compromising the overall stoutness at play or resulting in a hard step in profile. The result is a more continuous silhouette, with the graceful S-curve lending even more visual weight to some of the more minute details of the design, such as the plump cheeking of the bowl around the transition, the light, Danish-style lifting heel, and the overall sense of tight-knit, bundled up energy inherent in its stance. Gorgeous work from Sergey here.

- Andrew Wike