Floating sculptures and ethereal capsules
- Maggy portrays a lyrical world through ceramics
- Her craft is a 3D materialisation of complex illustrations
- In 2023, she opened her workshop with a commitment to showcasing her individuality
Maggy Ioannou had a childhood filled with creativity, paints, brushes and clay. She studied graphic design at the Vakalo Art & Design college in Athens, and has been working with clay since 2016. “The process, the strength and the existential dimension of sculptural and figurative ceramics feel right to me,” she says. Maggy is self-taught in her porcelain practice, which has given her work a whole new perspective. Her creative process starts with a vision that comes to life with pencil and paper. Then, Maggy scans and redesigns her sketches digitally to calculate measurements and weight, and finalise the structural requirements of the piece. "My artworks are self-referential, emotional, symbolic and at times, surreal. I rarely create something rational. My pieces convey messages through zoomorphism and the intimacy of the human form, which is always an anchor point for me,” she explains.
Interview
- How did you first discover ceramics?
- At one point, I realised that my profession as a graphic designer was not creative enough for me. Expressing myself in 2D was not what I was looking for. I decided to attend wheel throwing courses at the House of Ceramics in Amarousion in Greece. I was absolutely thrilled with the feeling of clay in my hands. It felt like coming home.
- Did you learn your craft from a master?
- I learned to throw clay on the wheel in 2016, at the House of Ceramic Art. A few months later, I met ceramicist Marilena Michopoulou, and studied large-scale hand building techniques and clay technology at her ceramic art school. I also studied sculpting with Altin Patselis and wheel throwing with Stavros Perakis. As for porcelain making, I am still studying the craft, mostly myself.
- Where do you find inspiration?
- The animal kingdom fascinates me profoundly in its relation to the human form. I find inspiration in Johann Joachim Kändler’s Meissen era and all kinds of porcelain art. I am also influenced by the shapeshifting sculptural architecture and its pioneers, such as Frank Gehry and Antonio Gaudi’s daring and playful ceramic key features.
- What aspect of your craft tends to surprise people?
- I think it is the poetic tendency or the emotional lyrical narrative of my work. I find floating sculptures captivating, as if they are autonomous, ethereal entities, and sometimes I sense that viewers and I share the same feeling.
Maggy Ioannou is an expert artisan: she began her career in 2018
Where
Maggy Ioannou
