Madrid’s new generation of potters
The feel of clay in your hands can be quite an experience. In Madrid, there are numerous studios where skilled artisans work to express themselves through this medium, but they also offer knowledge of this centuries-old trade to others. A life lived between the kiln and the potter’s wheel. By Silvia Roba
The improvements made to kilns during the Roman period spurred the development of ceramics in the area known today as the Comunidad de Madrid. The clay soil found in places like Galapagar would later be used by Arabic potters. In the 16th Century, numerous workshops sprang up in the areas surrounding Madrid, which muleteers would visit, their mules loaded up, to sell their daily wares, including pots, pans, and containers for water and wine.
At the behest of Charles III, the Buen Retiro Royal Porcelain Factory was founded in 1760, later replaced in 1817 by the Royal Factory of La Moncloa, promoted by Maria Isabel of Braganza, wife of Ferdinand VII. The aim of both factories was to produce porcelain and ceramic items intended for royal use.
Since then, pottery and ceramics have remained strong traditions in our city. Many artisans have chosen this medium to give free rein to their creativity. In their studios, not only do they work and sell: they also teach. Shaping and moulding clay under the guidance of a great teacher can be quite an experience.
“My connection to a slower way of feeling and living began more than ten years ago. From then on, I began to make changes in my life, lots of changes, which moved me away and brought me closer to a philosophy that I find to be deeply connected to human beings. Art and ceramics connect me with this way of living, more conscious and closer to the biological clock. Because clay has its own times; they cannot be accelerated.”
So speaks Deborah Abizanda, a journalist turned ceramicist, with a studio-shop right by the Reina Sofia Museum, where she makes and displays her pieces, and also gives regular classes. Her work follows two paths, one more functional (crockery, vases, earrings…), for which she takes inspiration from Art Nouveau, Nordic design, and Japanese art, and another more artistic, in which she uses “ceramics and materials such as paper, wool or cotton to express myself”.
A Fine Arts graduate and restorer of mural paintings, Silvia Valentin came into contact with pottery at the Francisco Alcantara School of Ceramics, an historic teaching centre in Parque del Oeste, by the building and kiln of the former Royal Factory of La Moncloa.
Silvia makes her pieces using a pottery wheel and modelling techniques and then finishes them in the kiln at 1250ºC. The shapes are simple and sculptural, finished with textures that create a contrast between rough and sparsely decorated external surfaces, and softer, enamelled interiors. “I seek expressiveness through irregular, slightly asymmetrical volumes, with finishes that allow the colour of the clay to come through between oxides and porcelain”.
What Alejandra Martinez enjoys the most “are the challenges my clients suggest to me. I enjoy making their crazy ideas into real pieces, both functional and decorative.” Now an artist, she began studying ceramics at the age of 16 and has never stopped creating.
Her pieces include animals of different sizes and curvaceous women gymnasts with ample hips. She also restores antique furniture and wooden pieces, such as old painter's stepladders, “an ideal place to put small ceramic pots where you can watch the plants grow”. In her workshop, she teaches classes for all levels.
Alongside Victoria Martinez, who teaches furniture restoration and decorative painting, Carlos Franco, a Fine Arts graduate, runs Taller Stucco, where he teaches courses for all those who want to get started in the world of artistic ceramics or to perfect their techniques.
In his classes, he teaches his students to make countless different pieces (tableware, coasters, cups, vases…) and small sculptures, such as meninas. He also works to commission, tailoring his pieces to the taste and whim of the client. Working out of his workshop in the neighbourhood of Chamberi, he understands that the objects he creates are perfect “for a special gift or to decorate a corner of the home”.
Arte Hoy is a ceramics workshop that seeks to create novel, interesting, original, and totally handmade products. It is run by two ceramists with more than twenty years of experience, Miki Caro and Pedro León, who, in recent years, has dedicated himself to creating artisan dinnerware, using his own glazes and mixture of clays, which result in original dishes which are also tough and durable.
In his workshop, he conducts extensive research in the field of ceramics. “I try to use non-polluting materials in addition to recycling any material I get my hands on” he says. Here you can take intensive courses in ceramics, the Japanese technique of raku, and how to use the potter’s wheel, for beginners and more experienced potters.
In this school-workshop, you can learn, among many other things, to distinguish between ceramics, which uses clay, and pottery, which uses the potter’s wheel and allows you to make different sizes of cylinder.
Loli Morante is one of the teachers in this large space divided into four levels, including the kiln area with a space for drying and firing, a modelling area, an area with pottery wheels, and tables to work up to. “Experiences with ceramics are activities aimed at adults with no previous knowledge, whose motivation is to carry out a specific activity and take home an object that they made and decorated with their own hands”.
“Our intention is to have a good time creating and learning using ceramic techniques.” This is the driving philosophy at this workshop-school in the neighbourhood of Malasaña, open to all those who are beginning to discover or want to improve their skills.
The person behind all this is Ana Barriuso, who continues to develop her own activities and concerns here while also offering a place to whoever wants to do the same. Students can choose to take artistic pottery or learn to use a pottery wheel. What about the rest? You can buy some of her wonderful signature pieces, from jewellery to plates and cups.
Silvia Roba is a journalist filled with wanderlust who has travelled the world to relate her experiences to others. She is a content manager for esMADRIDmagazine and coordinator of Bloggin' Madrid. What does she like best? Getting lost in the city. Follow her trail!