The art of ceramic weaving
- Sophie's artistic practice uses thousands of ceramic ovals
- Her pieces incorporate elements of weaving and sculpture
- She is interested in ideas of how individuality and collectives collide
Sophie Manessiez creates hanging sculptures made from articulated porcelain woven together with thread. After studying art in Belgium and communications in Paris, she began a long career in event production. In 2007, she returned to the art world to pursue ceramics, later completing a ceramic diploma in Montréal. Sophie’s signature process involves shaping thousands of small porcelain ovals, piercing each by hand, and weaving them together. “They sit like soft, floating blankets,” she says. This labour-intensive technique, unique to her practice, sits alongside small-series functional tableware. Sophie oscillates between creating practical objects and sculptural art. Through all her works, the red thread is the exploration of the singular unit versus the whole.
Interview
- What first drew you to ceramics?
- After working in event production, I was looking for an antidote to its fast professional pace. I wanted a material practice, something that I could master from a technical point of view and that I could control. I came back to ceramics, which felt like a great fit.
- How does sculpture feature in your practice?
- Sculpture was part of my early career. I then decided to master the technical side of creating ceramic pieces. As I developed my tableware collections, I worked on creating objects in series that were identical and perfect. Now I am returning to sculpture again, with an aim to keep both sculpture and ceramics operating side by side.
- What distinguishes your woven porcelain pieces?
- Each oval looks identical within the context of the entire artwork. But if you look closely, you will notice some slight differences between the pellets. My practice is concerned with the concept of the singular and the whole, and the effect of the whole on the singular. The ‘hidden’ individuality of each unit fascinates me.
- How do your materials inform your storytelling?
- Porcelain is mixed with stoneware in my body of work. Porcelain speaks to fragility while stoneware speaks to resilience. They sit side by side in dialogue, just as individuals do in a community, supporting and helping each other.
Sophie Manessiez is a rising star: she began her career in 2017 and she started teaching in 2022
Where
Sophie Manessiez
