Estudio Vernis, a creative project by Alejandra & Coke
- We visited Estudio Vernis a few years back to be welcomed into a world connected to nature and our senses.
- Pottery, wood kiln and creative minds
In order to get to their pottery workshop we had to leave the big coastal roads and take a path a little less travelled, through the mountains of Alicante. During this journey we traversed landscapes that are warm and perfumed, first of orange blossom then of pines and thyme, before finally arriving at Castell de Castells.
Our first impression when we entered the home of Alejandra and Coke was to be simply welcomed by life. In their home all is linked to nature: by the presence of animals and plants, woody and earthy objects and the garden as their life space.
Next, we discovered their work: rough, simple, essential, functional.
My personal discovery went through two phases.
Initially, came my surprise and my posing lots of questions about how Alejandra and Coke decided to do what they do. Why use a process so artisanal, why not use a potter’s wheel? Why use a wood kiln, why not develop a more rational and productive production line? Looking back, I was a bit of a slave to my designer mentality whereby a plate needs to be flat, perfect and easily stacked into a pile and the production as rational as possible.
Slowly, after using the stoneware that we had collected in that first visit, my vision changed radically. Estudio Vernis tableware is made entirely by hand, it is fired in a wood kiln and the ashes used to make a distinctive glaze. All of these elements together make unique pieces. We get attached to the marks made in the clay by the hands of Alejandra and Coke, by the traces of the wood fire, the irregularities of the pigments in the glaze. We have become attached to the imperfections. From one day to the next, we recognise the specific plate, a cup that we used yesterday, a bowl that we specially like, we end up wanting to drink and eat in the same one as we did last time.
A relationship has formed with the object, the same way as with a stone or a piece of wood that we collect and bring back after a walk outdoors. The object has become alive.
To learn more about Estudio Vernis
We thank Alicia Peiro and Rafa Beladiez for the beautiful photography.
