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.
You may not have known it, but ceramics is potentially eternal: it does not age, it does not alter, in fact, it can find new life even after years, surprising each time as if it were the first.
MorenaCer amics knows this well: the design of Morena Massera, owner of the Mat Laboratorio di Ceramica workshop in Milan, elevates and enhances a material that is born from natural elements found in the earth (clays, sand, quartz) and that, together with water, are handcrafted with a potter’s wheel to transform into precious, minimal, deeply authentic artifacts.
We at Wilden know this too, which is why we chose Morena’s creations for our store: in the “Accessories” section you will find four mugs, two with lids/ saucers (ideal for our brews!) and two with handles.
We asked Morena to tell us more about her, her project and her creative philosophy. Here is what he replied.
How was Morena Ceramics born?
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 work in interior design, the field in which I graduated. After a few years of fatigue and loss of orientation, I thought of starting a ceramics course.
The enlightenment came after the first classes: I realized that this was really what I wanted to do. I further specialized in this area enough to start teaching in three studios in Paris.
Back in Milan in 2016, there was the second birth: after a year, I decided to open my own studio/co-working space and to imprint it onteaching and making ceramics. Now we are a nice family nourished between trainees and people who are part of the co-working.
What is the point of connection with Wilden?
Well, we can say that there is a connection of form: we who make the pottery are the containers, Wilden produces the content, the herbal teas, which ends up in our pottery. There is a deep and powerful dialogue, also, related to the earth: pottery is a material that strongly evokes mother earth just as Wilden, with its herbs, is a project that respects its cycles and seasons.
What does it mean to you to be “Healthy and Wild”?
For me it means going back to the basics. It’s a topic that is very close to my heart and it fits with the pottery workshops I am organizing. I am getting closer and closer to this material in its primordial aspectsand exploring how pottery was once fired and made.
I am actually discovering a new world, that of primitive firings(pit fire pottery), which involves working the earth by hand and firing it in a fire. Imagine it as a bonfire around which pottery is fired, then covered with earth, left to rest and rediscovered the next day.
The result is incredible: the pottery takes on unique, raw and earthy, but very beautiful colorations-all without the use of glazes. Recently I went to the woods to collect clays to build new objects in the most natural way possible.
No tools, no additives: as I like to say, just hands.