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With a deep love for Greco-Roman mythology and an innate knack for storytelling, Luke Edward Hall’s imaginative aesthetic has amassed a rapt fan base. And for his second collection in collaboration with Ginori 1735 (which launches today), the English artist taps into his signature folkloric whimsy to continue the narrative of Neptune, the Roman god and ruler of the sea. With Il Viaggio di Nettuno—A New Chapter, Neptune and his mythical cohort of winged horses and frantic octopuses leap across porcelain tableware in muted shades of butter yellow, sky blue, and peach.
The collection picks up where the first voyage left off, with Neptune remaining the protagonist; Hall explains that the new direction primarily relates to the style and color. “I wanted my drawings to be a little more graphic this time around, more monochromatic, and I wanted to play with the overall palette,” the artist tells Vogue. Whereas the first collection was splashed with punchy, saturated colors, this time around, earthier hues set the scene.
“I mixed tones like terracotta and forest green with soft, dusty shades of butter yellow, sky blue and peach,” he says. And because everything is based on his hand drawings, the borders and lines are perfectly imperfect. (Or as Hall puts it, a little wonky.) “Also, the backgrounds are based on watercolor paintings, so they’re patchy. I love this—I love imperfections. I was interested in the idea of recreating a hand-painted look with a printed product.”
To bring the collection into focus, Hall leaned into a few points of reference. First, the Greek and Roman pottery displayed at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford (namely, the motifs and borders). And then the Bloomsbury Group, the influential circle of British artists, writers, and intellectuals from the early 20th century. “I’ve been a big fan of the ceramic pieces produced by them for a long time, particularly those made by Duncan Grant and Quentin Bell,” Hall says, pointing specifically to the boldness and mark making. “I wanted to carry into this collection a similar boldness. The world of Bloomsbury is one of my eternal inspirations.”
A decade after founding his studio, Hall has become a bit of a mythmaker in his own right. “As a child, I was very much into fantasy universes, and so the Greco-Roman world of mythical lands and creatures, heroes and quests appealed to me greatly, as did equivalent universes, thinking in particular of English folklore and Arthurian legend,” he explains, adding that these universes provided a magical, theatrical escape. “Growing up gay, many of the queer stories connected in particular to the classical world appealed to me greatly, too, a topic which I was able to explore more fully with the release in 2023 of a book I illustrated, 300,000 Kisses: Tales of Queer Love from the Ancient World.”
Hall gravitated toward the portrayal of Neptune in mosaics and frescoes when translating the Roman god’s identity onto porcelain objects like plates, mugs, and storage boxes. “I really enjoy the idea of him traveling on the seabed, encountering the characters we see in the collection, then returning to his palace, which I imagine looking like a sort of glowing grotto.”
Over the years, Hall has collaborated with several notable names across various industries, from Burberry to Rubelli to the Victoria Albert Museum. Yet it was an easy decision, he explains, to work on a second collection with Ginori, the nearly 300-year-old luxury Italian lifestyle brand creating some of the highest quality handcrafted porcelain in the world. “Ginori is an incredible company with a fascinating heritage, a long history of collaborating with artists and designers, and a remarkable treasure trove of a manifattura at its heart,” Hall says.
And while painting and drawing on canvas and paper is where it all begins for the artist, creating pieces with utility is a particular passion of his. “I very much love working with porcelain and Ginori because the things we make are meant to be used,” he says. “I have a love for designing objects that are practical, that can be picked up and enjoyed every single day. I love cooking—and eating in general—and so working with tableware feels natural and gives me a lot of joy.” (The collection is made up of tableware, tea and coffee cups, and gift items such as mugs, tumblers, and storage boxes—all imbued with that dreamlike quality of an afternoon by the Mediterranean sea. )
When prompted to paint a picture of how he’ll be putting these porcelain pieces to good use this summer, Hall explains that he’ll be down in West Penwith in the far reaches of Cornwall, having recently bought a house there. To set the scene: “I’m with my husband Duncan and our whippets and a bunch of friends. We’re in a cove, and we’ve carried baskets down with us stuffed with plates and bowls and platters, and food to cook. A friend is setting up a barbecue. On the menu? A whole fish, I think, or scallops perhaps. Vegetables from a nearby farm to grill. We’ve brought beers and rum and limes. We’ll go for a quick swim in the sea, and then we’ll settle down on the rocks to eat and drink with Il Viaggio di Nettuno… To end, I think we’ll need to throw a cup of rum over the rocks to salute Neptune in his watery depths!” Sounds like a plan.
