Margrieta Jeltema

Il Bosco dei Gigli

Porcelain maker

The porcelain folds of fragility and beauty

Margrieta creates paper-like porcelain art
Her pieces reflect curiosity, experimentation and the quest for beauty
She is featured in public collections and permanent exhibitions around the world

Dutch artisan Margrieta Jeltema began her journey with porcelain in 2006, with a rich creative background and an insatiable curiosity for the world around her. She is deeply inspired by the Portuguese azulejos she encountered while living in the city of Porto. “I would go on walks by the sea or the river, and see the beautiful tiles that remind me of Dutch tiles,” Margrieta recalls. “I took an azulejos course that combined everything I had done before – painting, drawing, etching and writing poems," she says. Now based in Italy, Margrieta creates delicate, paper-like porcelain pieces rooted in experimentation, emotion and a quiet search for beauty. Her Folded Love Letters collection and recent project A New Garden embody both fragility and a sense of mystery. Margrieta’s work has been featured in public collections across Spain, Italy, China, Australia, Portugal and beyond.

Interview

When did you start exploring ceramics?: I made my first ceramic piece while I was studying at Wageningen University. Although I had mostly made a living from etchings and drawings, I felt the need for a fresh start and chose to focus on ceramics after facing several personal challenges.
How did your collection Folded Love Letters come about?: I was drawn to writing on porcelain, so I bought a kiln. A friend, who was my philosophy teacher in Wageningen, saw me folding cupcake liners once and asked if I could make the same in porcelain. This sparked the idea behind Folded Love Letters. The first attempts failed, but today, the works are exhibited at CERCO’s permanent collection in Zaragoza.
How did you create your Dutch-style tiles?: I have been making tiles for the kitchen in my new house in Bolsena. I mix cobalt and iron oxide to paint on raw glaze, so that the drawings melt into it. I follow the antique Dutch process and use classic designs as well as sketches I once made for my children.
Where do you find inspiration?: I get inspired simply by looking around and trying to make sense of the world. It is also a way of creating a reality with the language of beauty and nature. You can always see something different, sometimes even transcendent, in everyday things. I believe that everyone does this one way or another.

Margrieta Jeltema is an expert artisan: she began her career in 2006