Ana Illueca

Ceramicist

©Feminim

Reflections of the Mediterranean

Ana changed her career to devote herself to ceramics
She learned the trade from artisans Juan Ortí and Pepe Royo
She reinterprets and updates traditional Valencian ceramics

Ana Illueca, a designer with a degree from the Valencia School of Design and Art, was working as an art director at an advertising agency in 2015 when she decided to take a break, quit her job and make ceramics her primary profession. After a moment of personal crisis, she enrolled in L’Escola d’Art i Superior de Ceràmica de Manises and changed the course of her life. Since then, this trade has become her therapy, her best way of expressing herself and the place where she feels most at home. In 2019, she opened her workshop and started creating stoneware and porcelain pieces based on her most personal reflections and feelings. Today, the potter’s wheel demands Ana an exclusive dedication that challenges and reassures her at the same time. “Ceramics is an infinite game that allows me to give form with clay to the light, joy and vivacity of the Mediterranean Sea.”

Interview

©David Rota

©Ana Illueca

How would you define the work you do?: I research the roots of Mediterranean cultures and defend our local identity made up of many destinations. I sail towards the origins of ceramics, updating symbols, shapes, techniques, and pigments. I create stoneware and porcelain pieces that evoke the coexistence of civilisations and cultures through the centuries.
How do you express tradition and innovation?: I admire and respect the most traditional artisan techniques. However, sometimes it is good for me to forget them to have creative freedom. I innovate by mixing materials or proposing new forms for traditional objects or pieces with new uses. I also create lines of sustainable pieces with which I aim to achieve zero waste in the workshop.
How does your work relate to the city where you live?: We have several museums and schools related to our trade in the Valencian Community. We have ceramic industries, exporting companies, suppliers, networks, craft knowledge, tradition and prestige. Through my work, I defend all these intangible values.
What are your sources of inspiration?: I create my pieces based on the current tensions and feelings that reflect the Mediterranean character of life on the coast, the city and the periphery. This state of mind, my surroundings, Valencia and its people are my principal sources of inspiration.

Ana Illueca is an expert artisan: she began her career in 2014 and she started teaching in 2021