Once you start making something with your hands, heart, and spirit you soon become more sensitive about all the things around you. It’s an experience that takes you to a place beyond the world of self. A place where you are reminded about the magnificent harmony of nature and how everything you are surrounded with is a gift from Mother Nature.
We love crafts and the process of making beautiful loving things that work with the flow of nature. That’s why we teamed up with Julia for an intimate conversation about her process of making things with her hands, heart, and spirit. She is an inspiring human being that loves nature, ceramics, photography, and writing. Her ceramic potteries are hand build made out of chamotte clay, and we are in love with their simplicity.
Julia tell us a bit about how did you start making ceramics and how this process has changed the way you value the materials around you?
I tried to make ceramics once at a master class in Moscow. Everything started from my curiosity and then I flew to another planet with the process where it was only my hands and a clay. Then I wanted to learn everything about hand building techniques and I went to a pottery school in Barcelona.
I love to work with chamotte clay. This material is very special to me. And every time I hold a piece that is made of this clay, I feel a deep connection with it. The texture is very pleasing. This made me noticing and appreciating more all the other textures around: in nature, in interiors, clothes.
You´re talking a lot in your social media about Mother Nature’s gifts. How did you develop this kind of gratitude? Is it something you grew up with?
I grew up in a small town by the sea and was always connected with nature as much as I could. I really believe that nature has everything for us, all the tools to be fulfilled and find a harmony. Mother Nature is abundant and there’re no equal levels on a tree. This we can say about people too.
Do you think we can gain more gratitude and understanding about what we are daily receiving from nature by being involved in crafts?
For sure. We produce and we thank nature for this opportunity, for its abundance. We can also respect the resources we are given and use them consciously, with more understanding where everything comes from.
¨But every time when I start a new piece, I try to go slowly and enjoy the process without overthinking. I feel like the clay is my best meditation when I can be in the moment of here and now. So a lot of times it’s a pure expression.¨
Can you tell us more about the process of making ceramics? Where are you usually creating them, and what do you feel, think, and sense while in the process?
I make ceramics in my home studio in Portugal. We have been building our house for two years and it’s still a lot of work to do until I have a proper space for work and my own kiln. But every time when I start a new piece, I try to go slowly and enjoy the process without overthinking. I feel like the clay is my best meditation when I can be in the moment of here and now. So a lot of times it’s a pure expression. It’s very important for me to be spontaneous. This is how I feel alive. So thanks to ceramics for giving me this. It’s actually a lot.
