Claudia Biehne

Porzellanatelier Claudia Biehne & Stefan Passig

Porcelain maker

©Stefan Passig

Keeping an open mind

Claudia first encountered porcelain in Luxembourg...
...when she was an au pair for a family who ran a ceramics workshop
She now works in Saxony, the cradle of European porcelain

Claudia Biehne opened her porcelain workshop in 2004, after taking a postgraduate course at HfKD Burg Giebichenstein in Halle, Germany, and studying further in Luxembourg, Prague and Helsinki. After her studies, she took a functional vase that she had designed and cut it into pieces, from which she built something new and non-functional. It was the first object that kickstarted the type of work she does today. Though she now possesses a strong base of skills and knowledge, every day she has what she calls her "first-time moment": the desire to start something new is always present in her work.

Interview

©Stefan Passig

©Stefan Passig

What does porcelain mean to you?: The possibilities offered by this material are almost inexhaustible for an artist. Again and again I enter into a kind of dialogue, an experimental interplay with porcelain, in which I reach its limits and often exceed them.
How is your work linked to tradition and innovation?: I don't think about tradition too much, but I use my hands for working – and the hand is the oldest tool humans have, after all! But the thing I love most about what I do is starting something new, and I always take an open-minded approach.
What is your working process like?: It’s a mixture between obeying the craft’s natural rules and messing up. It’s an emotional craft, you have to keep exploring and making mistakes, so that every time you open the kiln after a new experiment you get that "wow!" effect.
Can you tell us a memorable moment in your professional life?: In Germany, the attitude towards what art can be is very limited. It is a liberating experience to see the borders between art and applied arts change when you go elsewhere, for instance when I took part in the Cheongju International Craft Biennale in South Korea.

Claudia Biehne is an expert artisan: she began her career in 2004