FALLING IN LOVE WITH CLAY
My story with making ceramics started abruptly, yet it felt like something that was hidden within me for a very long time, that was desperately waiting to be uncovered. When reflecting back on these past few months of my journey with clay, I realize that the way it manifested itself into my life was beyond logical and intuitive.
I LIVE ON AN ISLAND WHERE POTTERY HAS BEEN MADE FOR THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF YEARS FAR IN ANTIQUITY, BY THE HANDS OF MY ANCESTORS, THE MINOANS, THE MYCENAEANS, THE ANCIENT GREEKS. THE SHATTERS AND PIECES OF THEIR CERAMIC WORK CAN STILL BE FOUND ON OUR MOUNTAINS, HILLS AND VALLEYS. IN FACT, I STUMBLED ON A FEW OF THESE AS I CLIMBED A MOUNTAIN BEHIND MY VILLAGE. IT WAS THE MOST THRILLING, MOST EERIE THING TO EXPERIENCE. AS I HELD THESE PIECES IN MY HANDS I FELT THEIR ENERGY. I FELT THE HANDS THAT TOUCHED THEM, SO LONG AGO. HOW THEY SURVIVED AND STOOD THE TEST OF TIME, THE ENDLESS CYCLES AND RHYTHMS OF NATURE, HOW THEY STAYED INTACT AND SHOWED GLIMPSES OF CARE AND ARTISTRY.
In the spring of 2019, I experienced a short moment of restlessness. Of feeling lost. After having travelled to the desert and experienced so much creative energy running through me as I was miles and miles away from my usual environment, I came back home and felt a little out of place. After a few weeks of feeling ungrounded, I decided to visit Margarites (a village known for its pottery here in Crete), and attend a pottery workshop. I wasn’t sure if that was going to become any particular new interest for me or long term practice. But after my first session, I was hooked. The hours and hours I spent working with clay, getting accustomed to it - felt like minutes. I hadn’t realized how quickly my days passed as I was working with this material. Clay enchanted me in a way that I have never felt before.
A few weeks later I sourced clay for my own studio and continued practicing. Along the way life brought up a whole new journey with clay I wasn’t expecting. I met a girl studying pottery, who I hosted in my studio. I got my love, David, to contribute in my practice. His cleanliness and eye for detail absolutely completed my own vision as we were creating more and more pieces together. Then we decided to get a kiln. And a collection slowly started to see the light of day.
“This collection will be inspired by the Sun and will honour the colors and textures of the Earth. Each of these pieces has been built entirely by hand and crafted here in our studio, using local cretan terracotta and Earth pigments that we foraged in the mountains surrounding us. They feel organic, raw and ceremonial - created to bring intention into space.”
My growing relationship with terracotta was what occupied my entire summer and the sun was always there to show me the beauty in unfinished, imperfect pieces. The purity and organic feel of raw, unprocessed clay spoke so deeply to me.
It still does, and I cannot wait to continue making more pieces in 2020.
