Creating ceramics with Sofia de Moser

Journal•
Creating ceramics with Sofia de Moser
Sofia de Moser, a content creator and freelancer in productions for fashion campaigns who spends her time working on what she enjoys the most fashion and ceramics. She explains her methods and what her favourite techniques when creating art are.
   
Tell us a bit about yourself, who are you? Where are you from? 
My name is Sofia de Moser Leitão, I am 29 years old, I'm from Lisboa, Portugal, but I moved to Paris 4 years ago. I share my time between working in my studio creating ceramic pieces, I also do some content for brands and I work as a freelancer in production for fashion campaigns :)
   
When did your interest in ceramics start? 
I started doing ceramics in 2017, after walking by a small studio called Caulino that caught my attention, in a very cute neighborhood in Lisboa. And then after a few months of practicing and learning I applied to a ceramics course in Ar.Co school of arts to do the first year of the ceramics course while I was doing a master in cultural management. Since I grew up in Portugal, and Portugal has a huge ceramics tradition, you can find studios of artisans and artists working with clay a bit everywhere. Once you start exploring you understand it's an infinite world :)
   
What took you to start doing ceramics more professionally instead of keeping it as a hobby? 
It started as a hobby and a way of expressing myself and having fun with my hands, and when I started posting my work on instagram things became a bit more serious haha I was definitely not expecting that ceramics would become such an important part of my life.

   

 

You’ve got quite a different and fun style, how would you define it? 
Haha thank you :) Hmm I think it's quite spontaneous, always practical too but with a twist I would say..? I love to play with colours and patterns, but sometimes I can also wear a full black look. It really depends on my mood. One thing that happens a lot is that I can really be influenced by movie characters. Sometimes I watch a movie, I like the style of one of the characters and then for one week I want to become this character. But this is usually when I go out, because on a normal working day I mostly wear jeans and a white t-shirt.
   
What inspires you the most when creating new pieces? 
Seeing something being created from nothing. Seeing a bag of clay becoming an object. I've been doing this for a few years but sometimes I still think it's quite magical to create something from our own hands, and then bring it home haha.

   
What techniques do you use? What is your favourite technique? 
I just do handbuilding, I don't work with a wheel. What I really love is to build a piece with rolls. It is quite fascinating to see how fast you can create a big piece.

    
What’s the process behind the creation of one of your pieces? 
I am always collecting references of things I like. This is something that helps me to start creating a piece. Sometimes I can also do a few drawings, but at the end things end up always evolving in unexpected directions.
   
You’ve collaborated with creatives and brands, who has been the most interesting to collab with and why? 
Every project is different and It has always been an interesting experience to collaborate with other people. Sometimes the creatives and brands with whom you are collaborating give you a lot of freedom and sometimes you need to adapt. But I feel both ways are interesting and enriching.
   
What was it about Romualda that caught your attention?
I think it's mainly the energy that the brand transmist. It really feels like a joyful and positive brand. Everything is so colorful . Also I am a huge fan of these big big hand painted hats! I love the fact that you can see the marks of the brushes. You feel you are wearing a painting on your head.
   
If you had to create a ceramic piece based on a Romualda product what would it be? 
I think it would probably be a big big ceramics hat. I've already made a pair of sunglasses, and some shoes, so I think a hat would be super fun!