Conversations with Ted Bradley

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ted Bradley. They and their team shared their story with us below:

Ceramics was the first thing Ted Bradley knew he was passionate about, but he never considered it a professional. He first pursued careers in mechanical engineering and software that spanned more than a decade. Then six years ago he started having visions of sculptures he wanted to build. He’d wake up in the middle of the night and the sketches would pour out of him. Eventually, he came to a fork in the road in his career and decided to make a big shift. “We only get one shot at this life. Maybe it’s time for me to let go of the things I think I’m supposed to do and start doing the things I want to do.”

Bradley decided the best place to start would be to build a light sculpture that had been particularly meaningful for him all of the years working his other career. It had white rings affixed to a metal spine, like the arcing ribs of a whale skeleton bleached in the sun. “The sculpture has a tension between the grace and fragility of the white rings and the strength and rigidity of the metal spine.” When he first started he had two master mold makers and a clay chemist tell him that what he was trying to do would be very difficult or impossible. He was attempting to turn formless clay, essentially wet mud, into a geometrically perfect circle that could be married to precision metal and LED components within a few hundredths of an inch. He researched and tested dozens of techniques, had over 200 failed rings, and worked by hand through 1,300 pounds of clay over more than 12 months to create the world’s first set of porcelain light rings. Each ring takes 5 weeks and several hundred steps to make. The result is visually stunning, one-of-a-kind light sculptures that are unlike anything else.

Ted Bradley Studio now has more than 70 sculpture designs made with his hand-sculpted porcelain light rings. There’s truly nothing else like them. The sculptures are handmade in Boulder, Colorado by Bradley and his team of four artisans.

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
He researched and tested dozens of techniques, had over 200 failed rings, and worked by hand through 1,300 pounds of clay over more than 12 months to create the world’s first set of porcelain light rings.

Each ring takes 5 weeks and several hundred steps to make. The result is visually stunning, one-of-a-kind light sculptures that are unlike anything else.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m inspired by nature, in its infinite complexity and perfection. I love the intersection of the natural, handmade, soft, and organic with the industrial, machine-made, rigid, and geometrically perfect. The point where these two meet each other, and how they interact, is of tremendous interest to me.

You can see these themes playing out in my metal sculptures as early as 14 years old, and now more recently with the Samsara light sculpture. These two sculptures are the same, just manifested with different materials. And of course, I have a lifelong love for the circle. The perfect circle. It is the quintessential embodiment of soft and approachable meeting absolute precision in a single point of mathematical and aesthetic perfection.

Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Quality, engineering, and precision – married to timeless and beautiful aesthetic designs.

Metal: Our metal components are precision cut from solid brass and stainless steel with tolerances of a few thousand of an inch. Each component is hand-polished and then given a true patina by a patina expert in our studio. The result is a finish with depth and nuance that beautifully compliments our solid white porcelain rings. We offer six standard metal finishes. Custom finishes are available by request.

Porcelain: Our rings are made from specially formulated porcelain that is among the brightest white in the world. Each ring is carefully formed by a master ceramicist and dried over several weeks. As a final step, the rings are sanded smooth and then coated with a thin layer of glaze. The glaze is heated to over 2000°, causing it to transform into sheer satin glass.

LEDS: The LED lights we use are among the highest quality available in the industry. They have near-perfect color accuracy, which ensures your space is clear and bright, and appears as it would in natural light. Clients can choose the color temperature of light for your sculpture. The color temperatures range from warm to bright white.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tedbradley.studio/