"Color Wheel" by Michael Gustavson, Raku Ceramic Functional Coffee Table, Miro-Inspired Contemporary California Art With Vibrant Colors

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The tabletop is freeform and organic, its edge irregular in the way that hand-formed clay always is. Across the surface, … Read more The tabletop is freeform and organic, its edge irregular in the way that hand-formed clay always is. Across the surface, bold leaf and crescent shapes in deep navy, red, orange, yellow, and green move through a field of deep blue, with smaller circular forms sitting quietly among them. Fine lines drawn through the glaze before firing are locked permanently into the surface. Inspired by Miro and Kandinsky, Gustavson treats the tabletop as a three-dimensional painting. This table works beautifully at the centre of a living room, a sitting area, or a studio, where it functions fully as a coffee table while serving as the artistic focal point of the entire space.

Michael Gustavson is a California-based ceramic artist who builds upon the traditional Japanese process of raku, reimagining it through a distinctly contemporary and highly personal methodology. His work bridges free-form organic sculpture and painterly abstraction, distinguished by unusually vivid, luminous color rarely achieved in ceramic sculpture. Central to his practice is a firing approach developed and refined over decades, introducing pine needles at lower temperatures to create a reduction atmosphere while pieces remain inside the kiln. This highly individual studio-developed method allows him to work at significant scale and achieve exceptional chromatic depth and painterly nuance. Describing himself as a painter-sculptor, he treats each form as a three-dimensional canvas built through layered glazes, textures, and color interactions. Inspired by Miro, Picasso, Kandinsky, Mondrian, and Pollock, his surfaces often feature controlled dripping and expressive movement, translating the energy of abstract painting into fired clay. Gustavson earned his MFA from San Jose State University in 1980. His work is held in major public and private collections worldwide, including IBM, Kaiser Permanente, Seagate, Cranbrook Museum, Eastman Kodak, the Bel-Air Hotel, ANA Hotel Tokyo, and private collectors including Goldie Hawn and Dr. Linus Pauling. See less