Heidi Warr Cafe Wall Large

Cafe Wall

Optical Illusion Slab-Built Vase

Large Vase 17” high, 6” wide £1266

Small Vase 9.25” high £666

Writes Heidi:

I have always loved visual illusions. I like the way they tease you and play with your mind and imagination.   

About the same time that I was having dreams of creating my own designs and ceramic art range, my fiancé finished a psychology degree. It was whilst he was studying a module on visual illusions that he showed me the Cafe Wall design. I was intrigued and he explained how it worked.

The illusion works because of how cells in our eyes are stimulated by light. The white and black areas create a sharp contrast and our brains think that the activity from our eye cells means there is a sloping edge to the bricks. That is why the grey mortar line has to be just right or the illusion loses its strength.

This illusion shows that our brains could be ‘tricked’ into seeing something that was not there. For me this was the meaning of this piece; it reminds us very vividly that what we see is not always as it appears.

The large towers are 17” high by 6” wide at the base and 4” wide at the top (all measurements are approximate).