Where is home?
I tend to feel at home wherever I might be, right now home is New York CIty.
What inspired you to create this space for your studio?
It was really a matter of the stars aligning. The store / studio was never really planned, it was a matter of one thing leading to the next and before i knew it Mellow on Allen st was born. It was the time of lockdowns and social distancing, my old studio was a shared space with many potters in brooklyn, that became hard to manage with all of the restrictions. So my friends at Sabah invited me into their 4th floor studio / shoe store on Bleecker st, where I set up my ceramic studio. I was there for a few years and as things slowly opened up, my studio also became a retail space. It felt nice to be able to create and also meet new people, collaborate all at once. It came time to move again and I have been living in the Lower East Side for many years so moving the studio to the neighbourhood seems like a natural move.
Can you walk us through your journey as an artist? When did you realize this was your path?
As I touched on before, it was a matter of one thing leading to the next. Since before I can remember, I have always been creating something. My mum is crafty and visually minded, my dad could make and fix almost anything. When I was young, I was always drawing, glueing, sewing and molding. I studied Communication Design in college, and moved into Photography soon after, from there I craved an avenue to create with my hands. Then with a few friends, I started learning ceramics. I still do a mixture of everything as I feel they all go hand-in-hand when creating a brand.
What materials or techniques do you find yourself drawn to most in your work?
I work with clay, and like to embrace the raw material and colours whenever possible. All pieces are made either hand-built or on the pottery wheel, I do a little slip casting too.
Is there a specific piece or series that you feel represents your artistic voice?
There are notably three collections that i feel work in unison to create Mellow; first it was the checkers, then came the swirls and now it's the suns. Maybe Mellow is better known for the Checkered pieces but I feel everything that is created here represents the brand, but maybe that's just because I'm amongst it all right now..
