A chromatic approach to hybrid ceramics
- Jolie creates ceramic works that oscillate between design, sculptures and functional objects
- Her surfaces are defined by saturated colours and intricately layered patterning
- Her practice examines the tension between digital and physical realms
Jolie Ngo is a Vietnamese-American artist whose ceramic pieces combine handmaking and digital technology. Using ceramic 3D printing alongside traditional techniques, she creates vibrant objects defined by layered forms and kaleidoscopic surfaces. “For me, 3D printing is less about the tool and more about the outcome. Rather than removing the hand from the process, it shifts when and how the hand appears,” she says. Jolie’s path to clay emerged after a workshop in ceramic 3D printing opened up a new way of thinking about the material. During the pandemic, she continued to experiment, sending digital files to be printed at her university and refining the results at home. Initially focused on vessels, Jolie’s practice has gradually expanded into sculptural furnishings, particularly lamps.
Discover her work
INTERVIEW
Not at all. I actually failed my high school ceramics class, and it was the only class that I have ever failed! It was not until my undergraduate studies that I discovered ceramics could be something entirely different and much more exciting.
The pandemic changed everything. While living in Providence, I began experimenting with ceramic 3D printing and sharing the work online. More people were seeing it, and that visibility helped shaped my practice and opened up new opportunities.
People often assume my work is influenced by video games. It is not that direct, but sandbox games have taught me how to imagine landscapes, buildings, mountains, structures and spaces. That way of shaping space still influences my ceramic forms.
At first, I looked to Vietnamese ceramics, thinking my heritage would guide me, but much of that history is fragmented. Being biracial, I have learned to live between cultures. That sense of in-between now shapes my work, balancing digital and handmade, functional and sculptural.
