Tints in clay
- Cécile was introduced to ceramics by chance
- A residency in Portugal unleashed a passion
- She seeks to bring a deeper experience to her objects
Cécile Mestelan playfully says that destiny brought ceramics to her – she had never considered the craft during her time at Biarritz Fine Art School. However, fate entered into play when she met a Portuguese student at the ECAL in Switzerland and he encouraged her to apply for a residency at Vista Alegre, Portugal’s prestigious porcelain brand. They married and today have three children. “I am grateful to my husband and the artisans who planted my first ceramic seeds.” Cécile opened her space in Lisbon after a successful crowdfunding campaign to buy a kiln. She brings French elegance to her work but also a deeper spiritual world of imagination connected with the universe. “I am not the sole producer, the final piece is a collaboration between the elements and my hands.”
Discover her work
INTERVIEW
To value patience. I’m impatient to achieve things and we have everything immediately nowadays but I learnt that this is not possible with ceramics. You need to wait through the firing process of the piece before opening the kiln and this wait is rewarding.
All my work is made with tinted clay. I love to know that the colour is not a cover so if you break it you will see the same colour inside. My pieces are more than functional, each object is the result of a personal process tied to an idea with meaning.
Yes. I’m a self-taught ceramicist except for moulding which I learnt from four highly skilled artisans at Vista Alegre. I like to feel the clay so I work mostly with hand built techniques – such as coil or slab – but will use the wheel and slip casting if needed.
Indeed, Portugal is well known for its ceramics but I also find inspiration from art. I discovered the colour, geometry and structure in Augustin Lesage’s paintings at the Art Brut Museum in Lausanne. If I could live in a painting, it would be one of his.
