Laine Berina

Porcelain maker

©Laine Berina

©Elza Elmane Pallo

Patience, purity and porcelain

Laine works with liquid porcelain
She mixes her own signature colours using special formulas
She creates different sets of tableware

Laine Beriņa’s path to becoming a ceramicist might have started as a hobby, but she has never regretted the choice to turn it into a small business, and it is still as much a passion as a job. Her porcelain tableware is instantly recognisable for its pure, pastel colours and fine, clean shapes. Laine’s work proves that porcelain can be contemporary and original. It also breaks with the convention of the traditional dinnerware set, since her porcelain pieces can be mixed and matched. It takes a lot patience and calmness to work with porcelain. To symbolise this state of mind and the love that is put into each object, Laine often draws a little golden heart at the bottom of a piece, which is only seen when the cup or bowl has been emptied.

Interview

©Laine Berina

©Elza Elmane Pallo

What is unique about your work?: I love pure tones and I mix the pigments myself to achieve these colours. I think that the uniqueness of my work doesn’t lie in the technique, but in a emotionally metaphysical dimension that is inexplicable. At least that’s what I've heard from my customers and friends.
When did you open your studio?: I opened my studio right after obtaining my bachelor’s degree from the Art Academy of Latvia. It was the summer of 2016. Ever since I started studying, I thought that I wanted to create my own tableware brand with a lot of pure colours.
How would you describe your creative process?: Creatively, I think in the long-term: how dishes of mine that were bought a long time ago will go with something new. So I don’t really create collections of tableware, but rather I make new pieces independently. This way customers can build their own collection, occasionally adding new pieces.
What do you love about your profession?: I like to pour the porcelain into a new, previously untried mould and see how it looks after it has been fired in a kiln. I love to see how an idea from my imagination is turned into a finished product, and how the first dish emerges from the new mould.

Laine Berina is a rising star: she began her career in 2016