Staņislavs Viļums

Cukrasāta

Ceramicist | Rēzeknes novads, Latvia

In tune with tradition

Staņislavs specialises in reduction firing
He follows the centuries old traditions of Latgale
He runs the workshop Cukrasāta with his wife Viola Anna

Staņislavs Viļums was born and still lives in Latgale, a region of Latvia known for its ancient pottery traditions. There, playing with clay was a natural pastime for kids. As a result, Staņislavs' interest in ceramics grew each year, until he eventually decided to become a ceramicist. He opened his workshop in 1996, creating his own unique environment for working with clay and following the heritage of Latgalian ceramicists. His specialism is reduction firing, also known as black or reduced ceramics. All his pottery is handmade and fired in a pit-type wood-fired kiln. Since 2007, he has worked alongside his wife Viola Anna Bīriņa, who came to the workshop as an admirer of black pottery and then became a ceramicist herself.

Interview

©Anda Dyrlund-Parbst

©Imants Urtāns

What special techniques and skills do you master?: My works are 100 percent handmade. I create them on a potter’s wheel, which has become a forgotten skill. I fire the pottery following traditional methods of reduction fired ceramics, which gives the clay works a black hue. I still use a wood-fired kiln, which is the most ancient technique.
How would you define what you do?: I would describe myself as a person who lives in rural conditions, practises an old craft, and cultivates and maintains traditions of the craft. Often the pottery I make speaks for itself. I have not travelled the whole world, but my works have certainly gone all over the world, to every continent.
When is a piece of pottery well made?: One of the essential indicators of good quality is sound. Fired pottery sounds very clear; when you tap on it with an object, it sounds like a bell. If a dish has a hollow, unclear sound, it must have a defect. Likewise, a well made dish must not have cracks.
Is your craft at risk?: As long as people have existed, they have made dishes out of clay. Clay is a natural material and it has always interested people everywhere. In the future, people will continue working with clay, probably with even more different methods and technologies, but they will certainly keep working.

Staņislavs Viļums is an expert artisan: he began his career in 1986