Before shaping my first large piece, I had already made more than 200 small ones. Cups, small plates, ornaments. Pieces made slowly, one by one, learning along the way.
I keep them all with care. They are part of my beginning.
It was in the studio of my teacher, Magali Ercolin, that something changed.
One day she showed me a book that was there among the materials, almost as if it had been waiting to be found.
The book is called:
「手びねりでつくる食の器」
(Tableware made with hand-building techniques)
It was written by Kazuhiko Sato (佐藤和彦), a Japanese ceramicist who works with hand-building in a very sensitive way.
More than teaching forms, the book showed a way of relating to clay. A way of working with presence and intention.
Shortly after seeing that book, I learned in the studio the coil-building technique.
It is the technique where the piece is built with coils of clay, almost like a clay rope, rising layer by layer.
At first it seems simple, but it opens many possibilities.
That was the moment when something shifted for me.
I began to understand clay in a different way. I started entering a deeper stage of the work.
The first piece that came from that moment was the vase that gave origin to the collection Entrelaces.
That was when I realized that every curve, every joint and every mark carried a story.
Kazuhiko Sato was born in 1947 in Fujisawa, Japan. He studied ceramics at the Tokyo University of the Arts, where he also completed his master's degree.
Throughout his career he has participated in exhibitions in Japan, the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom.
His work is strongly connected to handmade ceramics: simple, functional and part of everyday life.
Among his publications is the series Tebineri Tōgei Juku, dedicated to hand-built ceramics.
- Everyday tableware
- Pieces for drinks and sake
- Objects for tea and flowers
- Decorative ceramics with function
I have already found some of these titles in digital format and I hope to continue studying this work.
Later another collection came, inspired by the Japanese tea ceremony.
Silence and Gesture — 静けさと所作 (Shizukesa to Shosa)
Two pieces that speak to each other.
Silence is gathering inward.
Gesture is movement.
This collection carries much of what I began to understand during that moment in the studio.
But it was Entrelaces that opened the path.
For me, everything begins like this:
With the hand that experiments.
With the small piece made slowly.
With the right book at the right moment.
With the right teacher.
And with clay.
Always clay.