Good craftsmanship can impart personality onto otherwise mundane objects – but what if we saw such objects as silent observers in our lives? In short film Bowl of Life, director Parker Schmidt imagines the perspective of the humble bowl as a bystander to our most defining moments, exploring what this ever-present article might observe through the ups and downs of everyday life and relationships.

Shot over three days in Los Angeles, gathering a cast and crew of friends and creatives, Bowl of Life expands the art and life cycle of ceramics to encompass the experiences that play out alongside this simple receptacle. A witness to new love as hands reach within it, or aggression and impulse as it shatters on impact, Schmidt uses the bowl to animate the inanimate, finding nuance in the unremarkable.

Exposed to the complexity and intricacies of the pottery process through his own endeavours in ceramics, Schmidt began to question the way we interact with everyday objects once they become integrated into our lives. Working with cinematographer Jenna Huskisson, the film translates the visual language communicated through ceramics into the spoken commentary they might offer if able to, inviting us to take notice of minute details that often sink into the background.