Pursuit of Clay
Words: Tous Mag | Image Credits: © Facu Aguirre |
There’s something so instinctive about connecting with the earth, and all its glory, with your hands. Perhaps you’re a gardener, an allotment goer, a florist or - in Marta Bonilla’s case - a ceramicist. Getting your hands dirty and feeling the textures on your skin, organic and straight from the ground, is a therapeutic and gratifying experience for some.
Sculpting or working clay is an activity that inherently lends itself to a slower more considered pace, with the ability to dent and re-form with every movement and pressure applied, it’s time consuming and requires patience. Marta’s pursuit of clay started 4 years ago when feeling an urge to create with her hands, something perceptible by touch. Curious and captivated, Marta began to develop pieces for the home that had ‘haunted’ her head for some time.
“The impulse or mood to create a certain piece is very natural and spontaneous, for me” Marta Bonilla
Embellished with Raffia shades, to finish, Marta creates distinguished and simplistically elegant ceramic lamps archetypal of a minimalist. These timeless pieces are stout and steadfast, with functionality a fundamental priority, mixed with a romantic, earthy aesthetic. The soft shapes and smooth finish add a visually soothing quality to the statement lamps - beautifully highlighting the materials’ organic qualities - with the trace of finger workings made by the maker imprinted onto them adding a distinct, personal touch.
Continue reading for words from ceramicist Marta Bonilla.
Tous Mag: What's it like living in Barcelona, have you always lived there?
Marta Bonilla: Barcelona is a very good place to live, since it’s a city of an accessible size, with sea and mountains. There’s great weather and it’s a city with a lot of cultural life. In Barcelona I live in the Born district, with my partner and son, near the sea. I have been on this floor, and in this area, for almost 10 years and for now I have no thoughts of changing. It’s not easy living on a high floor - with a baby and without an elevator - but I love the light in the house, seeing the rooftops from the other neighbours, the plants and many different shades of green and seeing the old chimneys of the city. Strolling through the streets of Born is one of the things that relaxes me the most, I love its old buildings and the variety of neighbours. I have not always lived here, a few years ago I lived in Dublin and Madrid. Several years in each place.
Tous Mag: What does an average day look like for you?
Marta Bonilla: My day starts very early, around 7 in the morning, a baby is the best alarm clock. There we begin to prepare ourselves for the day ahead, normally out around 9:30am. I spend the morning in the studio, making pieces, booking in shipments for the day, doing some mailing or coordinating the production.
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Around 5:00pm I pick up Leo and we come home, we rest and then some games in the park.
Tous Mag: Are we correct in thinking your ceramics journey started fairly recently, in the last few years?
Marta Bonilla: Yes, now 4 years ago. At the time I started with ceramics, I felt a need to make objects with my hands. I was very curious about the material and imagined the pieces that I would like to have at home. Art has always interested me, since I was very young at school it’s always been in my day-to-day life. I’ve never identified as an artist, nor do I tend to define myself that way, but I have always felt a lot of attraction and interest towards that sector. The impulse or the mood to create a certain piece is very natural and spontaneous, for me.
Tous Mag: Your lamps are beautiful, what was the inspiration behind the design?
Marta Bonilla: It’s a sum of things. For me, sitting down to draw, or trying to materialise shapes that haunt my head is a process that comes naturally. There are places that really help to be calmer, more connected and more creative. A place that helps me a lot is my country house, surrounded by olive trees, the sea and nature. I also find inspiration in looking at the origins of the profession, in the most primitive of it, in those forms and in the usefulness of them. Also to look at the work and career of artists I like, for example, Joan Miró, Josep Lluís Sert or Valentine Schlegel.
Tous Mag: Have you faced any challenges since your ceramic journey began?
Marta Bonilla: These last two years have been a great challenge. I am really enjoying this moment and the things that are happening to me but combining it with pregnancy and the birth of my son has been a great challenge, for me. It’s not always easy to combine the two things and be with the intensity that I would like in both. Coming to all orders has been a great personal achievement. I am pleased to have clients that I appreciate the work of and to be able to sell my work in stores I really like. I’m pleased to have large orders for hotels such as the new Soho House in Paris or a project of the Lazaro Rosa Violan studio as well as orders from Valentino and other fashion firms. It is gratifying and I am so grateful that _sightunseen_ and Vogue British mention my work.
Tous Mag: What's the best piece of advice you've been given?
Marta Bonilla: That of materialising things; to not stay only with the idea or the desire to do something, but doing the action and being daring.
Tous Mag: What's your biggest inspiration?
Marta Bonilla: The Art.
Tous Mag: Do you have any collaborations in the pipeline?
Marta Bonilla: Yes there are several collaborations for this year, for now we are finalising them. There’ll be new pieces to come!
