Anca Vintilă Dragu

Una ca Luna

Ceramicist

©Anca-Vintilă-Dragu

©Cooperativa Foto

From marketing to ceramics

Anca specialises in slip casting, modelling, and ceramic collage
Her experiments have led to combining porcelain with different materials
Her work reflects her experiences and observations on the world

After 12 years spent in the corporate world, Anca Vintilă Dragu switched from a career in marketing to become a professional craftswoman working with ceramics. It all started with a painting course she attended in London during a year-long stay in the UK on business. Back home, she began painting on porcelain in a specialised workshop and became increasingly drawn to the process of creating three-dimensional objects from scratch. She studied ceramics at the National University of Arts in Bucharest and later earned a master's degree in decorative arts. She often participates in national and international exhibitions, festivals and design fairs. She is the founder of Una ca Luna studio, where she makes unique porcelain objects for everyday life, including interior design. She is a member of Galateea Contemporary Art, the first and only gallery dedicated to contemporary ceramics in Romania.

Interview

©Cooperativa Foto

©Anca-Vintilă-Dragu

How would you define what you do?: My ceramics are intuitive, as I followed a course which encouraged combining curiosity with observation. My works are reactions and responses to social and personal experiences. I transform observations, related to what surprises me or what I want to express, into small sculptural works.
What are your sources of inspiration?: People, animals, the city or social issues inspire me. I believe that our daily encounters and experiences add sediment to our subconscious. When I come up with ideas, they all seem good, but then I run them through my mind and imagine their representations. Sometimes I bring them to life, sometimes not.
What do you love most about your profession?: I love the framework that ceramics provides for expressing ideas and manifesting an artistic vision. Moreover, it offers the possibility to create three-dimensional objects. Everyone loves ceramics, including children, as anyone can build another reality with a piece of clay.
What is less known about your work?: I do not think people usually know how much physical work is behind a ceramic piece. There is a lot of effort, and every step must be properly executed. The work also includes some engineering. When creating a mould, you need to consider all the details so that the final object is functional.

Anca Vintilă Dragu is an expert artisan: she began her career in 2012