She was born in April 1978 in Athens. She studied interior design, architecture and graphic arts in ‘Vakalo’ school. She attended post- graduate studies at UPC (Polytechnic University of Catalonia).
In 2011, she has her first contact with ceramics attending ceramic workshop in Uruguay, S. America. Absolutely magnetized, she felt at liberty and self-confidence. Clay enabled her to materialize three- dimensional objects and be sure for the result since she observed it assuming its form in front of her own very eyes. Its plasticity and its slow ‘maturing’ process, allowed her to work on her crafts, with no frustration; yet with agony. She held a ‘solid entity’ in her own hands. She had – alas- discovered her element. It is undoubtedly her greatest challenge and a source of great thrill to her!
Her work never stops being experiential and playful. Like a small act-installation, a form of storytelling. A joke with joy, humor, laughter, and playing pranks. Or like letting out numerous emotions, letting go of her personal nightmares.
One thing is certain: she loves clay. She uses everything, all clay fragments. And she loves that. You don’t need much, do not throw away or waste but deploy.
Since 2018 she maintains her own workshop. It was the dream of a lifetime to live and exist within the premises of a workshop.
Follow new paths. Take risks and venture into the unknown.
Having lived enough years around the world, I am happy and proud to be able to say that I work with what I love the most.
We let go of perfection and we trust our instincts. We express ourselves freely, we improvise, and we experiment with the sensitive nature of ceramics.
It is part of who we really are. We are part of a whole: nature, the process of maturing and transformation is an amazing universe that is worth exploring. Lean your ear upon the earth and listen.
Ceramics made by our own two hands, by ourselves. Where functionality, beauty and pleasure converge.
Clay is an integral part of mother EARTH, malleable by us, by our own two hands.
That alone offers us so many advantages; it even heals us, sometimes without us realizing it when it is happening.
There lies the heart of every ceramic piece; it expresses our personality at that exact moment in time, without any masks on.
Give room and time to pleasure, to yourselves, to live it, to have your own personal experience and, through that path, to get to know one of the most powerful pieces of Greek cultural heritage.
Marietta Pavlaki
Photographer
