MARYIA VIRSHYCH & RUBEN PELA
SLOW REVOLUTION
Viazanka Collection
Belarusian product designer Maryia Virshych works with porcelain to make delicate and refined decorative objects. She founded her studio Virmary in 2020 and makes limited edition, hand-built objects.
Chester Vase | Black
ChesterVase | White
“Five years ago I moved to Barcelona,” says Virshych, “and was impressed by the intentional slowness of life here with the value of joy and balance. These experiences deeply inform my practice and my attitudes.”
Her choices as a designer are guided by strong ethics and sustainable practices, from material sourcing to the packaging she uses. Special consideration is given to craftsmanship and slow production.
Chester Candle Holder | White
Her founding principle with Virmary is that good things take time and that there must be beauty and value in the material things we surround ourselves with.
“I see slow craft as a rebellion against the cult of speed, productivity and efficiency,” she says. “Long processes that do not allow for rush or cutting corners.”
Before embarking on her own creative project, Virshych had been working as a product designer. The industry had left her frustrated and burnt out.
“Constant production of new designs is guided by a hectic calendar of Design Shows and Fairs, every year more and more of them,” she explains. “The abundance drove me crazy. The over saturation with things filled me with fear, the speed and rush gave me anxiety. I felt disappointed and creatively paralysed.”
Viazanka | Black
The collection that forms part of the Cluster Crafts exhibition is called Being in Time and is inspired by our complicated relationship with fast consumerism.
“I want to escape the seasonality of things and refuse to be forced to constantly create new objects simply for the sake of newness. The pieces slowly evolve and transform, each edition resembling its predecessor while also differing from it.”
Oh Baby Hold Me Tight | Blue
Virshych works predominantly with porcelain, taking pleasure in the magical translucent quality it has that allows her objects to seem as though they glow from the inside. She also occasionally introduces elements of brass, golden mirror and natural flax rope to give the pieces a softness and added layer of texture.
“I believe that objects have this power about them, to channel some of the energy and emotion of how they were made. And when they are made by hand the emotion is catalytic.”
Seed
Designer Ruben Pela plays with the subtle variance of textures and colours of the surfaces of delicate vessels. He has been working with ceramics for decade and is endlessly fascinated by the possibilities the clay material and its relationship with fire. He first discovered clay while making masks for theatre.
“The contact with clay was above all a sensory experience: the way in which the clay reacted to contact, how the smallest gesture imprinted its mark on the surface. I was very impressed,” he says. “The transformation of clay by fire and the colours that were revealed made me sure I wanted to dedicate myself to ceramics as a means of expression.”
Seed
Born in Brazil, Pela grew up in a small town and was intrigued by small natural curiosities like shells, stones, seeds and crystals.
“The proximity of the mountains aroused my interest in geological formations, stones and minerals,” he says. “Today I feel as if these objects were relics, as witnesses, of a history of life and transformation on Earth that asks to be revealed.”
Pela uses as many local materials as he can, choosing to create glazes from natural ashes and soil from the different regions of Brazil.
The works included in the Cluster Crafts online exhibition are from a series of pots called Seeds and a piece called Babel.
“The series Seeds started five years ago and these shapes came from my desire to mould a simple pot that had great symbolic load,” explains Pela. “In these pieces I try to capture the eye by the subtle sensuality of the curves and the hint of lines and grooves.
“This series marks the beginning of a personal search: I would like to create an object that serves as a resting place for the gaze, as a landscape, a response to a world in which the attention and gaze is increasingly captured in every possible way.”
In contrast, the piece Babel was inspired by rocks and their steadfast formations. Pela sees the rocks as monuments to the passing of time and aims to recreate their great drama in miniature.
“I love the twists and breaks of the rocks, the geological processes and their marks on the landscapes, the empty spaces and the silent presence of the stones.”
Work by both Ruben Pela and Maryia Virshych can be purchased via the Cluster Crafts online store.
Thank you for reading,
Katie De Klee & Cluster Team.