Revisiting We Ponder: Handmade Lighting, Now Designed for More

We Ponder is a Tasmanian lighting brand creating handmade ceramic and glass lights that feel a little special, a little playful, and never too perfect, much like Tasmania itself. We work with local makers to create pieces that celebrate the beauty of human hands, natural variation, and thoughtful design. At the heart of it, we just want to make lights that bring warmth, character and a bit of joy to a space. 

Our process begins in our Hobart studio, where ideas usually start as a sketch, a conversation, or a rough concept passed back and forth with our makers. The material has a say, the process has a say, and so do the people making each piece, which means the finished design often evolves quite a bit from the original idea.

For our ceramic pieces, a master mould is created so each form can be slip cast. That gives us enough consistency to build a repeatable collection, while still leaving plenty of room for the handmade nature of each piece to come through. Each mould is filled and emptied by hand, the piece is removed and cleaned up, finer details and carvings are added by hand, and the cutout in the back for the lamp holder is made. Our glaze recipes are also developed from scratch by Ian, before each light is hand dipped and fired in the kiln.

Once fired, the ceramic pieces move next door to our packing space, where they are sorted into sellable and odd lot piles. Ceramics can be wonderfully unpredictable, so not everything makes the cut. That is all part of what makes each successful piece feel worth it.

For the collections that include glass, the blown glass components are made up north in Poatina by Keith and his assistant. They blow each piece, press in the indents, fire it in the glass kiln, then sand the back so the thread skirt for the lamp holder can be fixed into place. From there, we shine a light inside each bulb to spot larger bubbles, splits, or darker marks that become more obvious once illuminated. Some of those also find their way into the odd lot pile.

So while there is a lot of care and process behind every collection, there is still enough variation for each light to keep its own little personality.

Being based in Tasmania shapes almost everything we do. There is something about living and making here that keeps you connected to materials, to people, and to a slower, more thoughtful way of doing things. Our lights are designed in Hobart, with ceramics made in Cygnet and glass blown in Poatina, so there is a real sense of place in every piece. We are proud of that localness, and of the fact that the finished product still feels closely tied to the people who made it. 

That balance is honestly one of the trickiest parts of what we do. The hard part is that people see variation differently. One customer might love the small imperfections and see them as the thing that makes a piece feel special and unique, while another might spot the very same detail and only see a flaw they cannot unsee. So we are constantly trying to find that sweet spot, making each piece as resolved and beautiful as possible, while still allowing room for the marks of the hand, the quirks of the glaze, or a grain in the clay to come through and tell a little story. To us, that is not a flaw, it is part of the point.

We make our glaze recipes in house rather than buying pre-mixed colours, which means every finish starts a bit more like an experiment. Sometimes we begin with a colour or mood in mind, and other times we are walking through Ian’s studio, spotting a beautiful one-off mug or test piece and thinking, we would love that colour. From there, Ian builds the recipe using a mix of glaze materials and colouring oxides to see where it lands.

The fun part is that glazes do not always do what they are told. Sometimes they come out looking completely different to the original plan, but that is often when the best finishes appear. The hard part is repeating them, because things like application, kiln temperature, cooling, and even where a piece sits in the kiln can all affect the final result. So, a lot of glaze development is part chemistry, part patience, and part letting the kiln have its say.

Achieving an IP65 rating had been a goal of ours for years. We have always wanted to offer our lights with as few installation limitations as possible, so they could be used more freely across both interior and exterior projects. Our previous collection gave people a fair amount of flexibility, but there were still situations, particularly in wetter bathroom zones or certain outdoor applications, where the rating could make specification more complicated or lead to hesitation from electricians and designers. In Australia, some bathroom zones may only require IPX4, but IP65 gives a much stronger level of protection and opens up far more confidence around placement. For us, the move was really about making the collection easier to use, easier to specify, and more versatile without compromising the look of the lights.

It gives both customers and designers a lot more freedom in how they use the collection. Moving to IP65 means the lights can now be specified with much more confidence in spaces where extra protection is important. For designers, that means a more seamless and consistent lighting story across a project. For customers, it means less compromise and a much better chance that the piece they love can be used exactly where they want it.

I think it comes down to the fact that our lights still feel very tied to the people who make them. There is a lot of care in the design, but there is also room for quirks, variation and those small details that remind you a human was involved. Because we are a small brand, the process stays very close to us in a way that can be harder to hold onto at a larger scale, from the first idea in our Hobart studio through to the makers in Cygnet and Poatina. That closeness gives the work a more personal feeling, and hopefully a bit more soul as well.

We have been busy working on a brand new collection launching in May, and we are very excited about it. It brings in a new material and a fresh aesthetic that still feels connected to the rest of our range, while also opening things up to a slightly broader design audience. We love the idea of our lights finding their way into all sorts of homes, and this collection feels like a fun step in that direction. It is all still a little under wraps for now, but not for much longer.

Discover the full We Ponder collection.