Since my childhood, I have continually been developing my sense of perception and tried to capture the visual world in drawings. Early drive towards simplification, to arrive at the essential. Instinctively cautious use of colours. Development of fine motor skills through those activities. First contact with clay and pottery at school: feel, experience of inwardness, desire to shape, sensuousness, and joy of life. Pottery training at the KFS Landshut in Bavaria, Germany. Work in potteries, learning ways of design in workshops at the Keramisches Zentrum Höhr-Grenzhausen in the Westerwald region in Germany.
I never give up on anything. It is exciting to experience, how seemingly failed pieces of work on my potter’s wheel, or drying, not yet fired dishes that I knocked over, can still be the starting point of something new and unplanned, which sometimes ended up better than anything else I had made until that point. This is reflected by feedback from customers who are often particularly intrigued by those works.
“The entirety of a human being is present in their hand.” Prof Heinz Deuser
I mainly work with stoneware clay from the Westerwald region in Germany, particularly for crafting dishes and pots. On the other hand, for modelling work, I experiment with several varieties of clay, for example from Spain. I am mixing my own glazes after careful testing of the optimum ratio of the raw materials. I use a firing temperature of 1240-1280°C. The fired ceramics are impermeable, can withstand frost, and are also dishwasher safe. Building on my resources, I am learning continually.
My hands are my principal tool. Often, they guide me better than my conscious planning, designing, and expectations. My bones are made of copper and cherrywood and I have been using them since the first days of my pottery training. It is amazing that I can do everything I want with a set of tools that would fit into a rolled-up sheet of paper. I particularly appreciate high-quality goat hair brushes and beautifully finished China brushes.
Beauty is a fact. Beauty is the source of the joy of living and offers consolation. I try to give an answer to the elements in the world that spark my curiosity. My experience supports me on this ongoing journey.
