Violante Lodolo D’Oria

Ceramicist

Fascinated by colours

Violante studied in Paris and New York
She treats the surface of vessel as a canvas
Italian Baroque architecture is one of her sources of inspiration

Born in Genoa, Italy, London-based artist Violante Lodolo D’Oria, studied in Paris, at the Ecole Camondo, and in New York, at the Pratt Institute, where she graduated in Fine Arts. But after a visit to a leading contemporary craft fair in London, where she could admire “the most exquisitely executed creation in different mediums”, she ditched her canvas and acrylic tubes and enrolled on a ceramic course at Morley College. Mesmerised by clay and influenced by her background in painting – especially in the way she glazes her works – Violante treats the vessel’s surface as a canvas and pours or paints onto the surface with a succession of various glazes to obtain a richness and variety in colour and intricacy in texture.

Interview

Do you have a favourite clay?: My preferred clay is stoneware with an addition of 20 percent molochite, which makes it more resistant to warping and cracking – it is well suited to hand building. I do not sketch, preferring instead to work directly with 3-D shapes, which helps me to grasp its real proportions.
Can you describe your working process?: I start by stacking, in different combinations, any shape I have at my disposal to determine the appearance of my final object: bowls, buckets, casseroles, and spoons are used as press moulds. Once the clay is at the right consistency, I start to build my piece by assembling the chosen shapes.
What happens when the main form is complete?: I begin to reshape it by altering its structure. To my eyes this object becomes an architectural composition where concave and convex volumes interact with each other. I alter its shape by cutting its walls and by inserting additional volumes a new object resurfaces, charged with an intricate interplay of masses and volumes.
What does well made mean to you?: It means mastering your techniques at every stage of the creative process, and should be reflected in the final piece. I am extremely exigent and ruthless with my work. If I see imperfections that bother me, I will discard the piece, even if it has taken me countless hours to create. I consider this act as mental hygiene, that liberates your mind and helps me to start afresh.

Violante Lodolo D’Oria is an expert artisan: she began her career in 2014