About the Artist
Whitney Sharpe is the creative behind Latch Key. She has worked with clay since she was a child growing up in rural Michigan. Whitney attended Savannah College of Art & Design in Georgia, focusing on ceramics, textiles, sculpture, and painting. From this multi-medium education, Whitney was able to explore traditional and craft based mediums while converging intention, concept and quality. After graduating in 2011, Whitney moved to San Francisco eventually settling in Oakland. In 2014 with a scrap of canvas, in a corner of the converted warehouse she built out with friends, Latch Key was born. Starting small, Whitney created clay jewelry and planters eventually carving a groove into larger work. In 2017, Whitney and fellow artists founded Standard Parts Studios, an interdisciplinary art studio where she makes all of her work today.
SCULPTURAL FUTURE
Latch Key was spawned from an environment where production is mechanized and the reminder of the hand is nearly invisible. The goal of this handcrafted ceramic studio is to bring craftsmanship back into the aesthetic of personal and home adornment.
By supporting handicraft makers, you are building a reality where skill sets are reinforced and boosted, helping goods created by real people become highly valued. This will set a precedent - a structure in which skills are celebrated, shared and cherished, forcibly altering the future of consumerism and the way we acquire objects that inspire us.
Musings of the present
Latch Key is a limited run ceramic studio based in Oakland. Designer Whitney Sharpe creates ceramic adornments for ceremony, the body and home. Every piece is a meditation, delicately sculpted with intention- reflective of the present. Whitney uses clay as a vehicle to translate concepts via structure and form, lending the process of discovery to be imbued within each piece created.
