Making Wilden | Shaping the earth with Morena Ceramics
Wilden.herbals meets producers, chefs, entrepreneurs and realities close to the healthy and wild philosophy. Today we get to know Morena Ceramics, a project by Morena Massera and Wilden's new partner.
Maybe you didn’t know it but ceramic is potentially eternal: it does not age, it does not change, on the contrary, it manages to find new life even after years, every time as if it were the first.
Morena Ceramics knows it well: the project by Morena Massera, owner of the Mat Laboratory for Ceramics in Milan, elevates and exalts a material that comes from natural elements present in the earth (clays, sand, quartz) that, together with water, are hand-worked to be transformed into precious, minimal, deeply authentic artifacts.
We at Wilden know this as well, that’s why we have chosen Morena’s creations for our store: in the “Accessories” section you will find four cups, two with lids / saucers (ideal for our infusions!) And two with handles.
We asked Morena to tell us more about herself, her project and her creative philosophy. Here is what she replied to us.
How did Morena Ceramics come about?
With Morena Ceramics we can talk about two births: the first was in Paris when I accidentally stumbled upon the world of ceramics while looking for a job in interior design, the field in which I graduated. After a few years of tiredness and loss of direction, I thought about starting a pottery course.
The enlightenment took place after the first few lessons: I understood that it was really what I wanted to do. I further specialized in this field and started teaching in three studios in Paris.
Back in Milan in 2016, a second birth took place: here I decided to open my studio / coworking based on teaching and ceramic production. Now we are a big family made of students and people who are part of the coworking.
What connects you to Wilden?
Well, we can say that there is a bond of form: the ceramics are the containers, while Wilden produces the content, the herbal teas, which ends up in our ceramics. Furthermore, there is a profound and powerful dialogue linked to the earth: ceramic is a material that strongly evokes mother earth as well as Wilden, with its herbs, is a project that respects its cycles and seasons.
What does “Healthy and Wild” mean to you?
For me it means going back to basics. It is a topic that is very close to my heart and that goes well with the ceramic workshops I organize. I am getting closer and closer to this material in its primordial aspects and I am exploring how ceramics were once cooked and made.
I am actually discovering a new world, that of primitive cooking (pit-fire) which involves hand-working the earth and cooking in the fire. Imagine it as a bonfire where ceramics are cooked by covering them with earth, left to rest and rediscovered the next day.
The results are incredible: the ceramics take on unique colors, raw and earthy, but very beautiful – all without the use of glazes. I recently went into the woods to collect clays to build new objects in the most natural way possible.
No tools, no additives: as I like to say, handmade in the most literal way.