Today, I bring you a giveaway from SouleMama Sponsor, gleena. In Asya's words:
gleena.com carries the work of Asya Palatova plus the work of a few artists Asya admires. Asya’s work is functional porcelain ceramics. Other artists’ work ranges from metal type to hand-blown glass, to carved wood.
You can follow Asya on her blog, My Mama's Table, as well.
SouleMama: Tell us about your background. What path led you to the work you do today?
Asya: I grew up in St. Petersburg, Russia, in a family that loved entertaining. My grandmother was famous for her cooking, and for putting together beautiful dinner parties served on gorgeous dishes. My family has a summer house outside St. Petersburg, and it was always full of family and friends while I was growing up there. These summer gatherings inspired me to create a line of porcelain tableware. My shapes are designed to feel great in the hand. I use silky satiny glazes, and sand the exposed porcelain to a skin-like softness.
I started out as a graphic designer and worked in NYC for ten years for design companies and magazines. At the same time, I took ceramic classes, and eventually decided to attend graduate school at Rhode Island School of Design, with a ceramics concentration. The mold making, slip casting process I use today I learned in graduate school. I create my own shapes, and then make multiple molds from them to be able to produce duplicates in quantity. Because the molds are open at the top, the edge has to be finished by hand, giving each piece a unique personality. Even though they come out of the same mold, no two pieces are exactly the same.
Asya: I like how physical my job is. I mix my own porcelain slip, and that involves bags of raw materials weighing 50lbs. I don’t have an assistant, so I do everything. The molds are also on the heavy side, and I feel like I am lifting weights all day long, which makes for great arms, no gym needed. My favorite part of the process is opening the kiln, most times it’s like opening a present, with lots of many beautiful things. Sometimes things do go wrong, and then opening the kiln is not so much fun. But that’s all part of learning. The wonderful part about ceramics is that there is always always more to learn. One needs to be a chemist (for the glazes) and an electrician (for the electrical kilns) as well as an artist and craftsperson.
SouleMama: What's the product or offering you're most excited about in your shop right now?
Asya: I am excited about the wee tea cups in my shop. I just started making the animal line, and so far it’s going really well. I love the cups’ whimsy, but also love that they can be used as an educational tool for smaller kids. I get a lot of orders for the wee teas as presents for toddlers, either with an animal or the child’s name inscribed on the inside rim. The cups are also great for adult ice creams, and are in constant use at my house.
SouleMama: If you could spend a day with any artist, who would it be?
Asya: Isamu Noguchi. He was a sculptor originally from Japan, but working in NYC. I love the peaceful organic quality of his work, and his choice of materials (wood, stone, metal).
SouleMama: Do you have a favorite inspirational quote?
Asya: My favorite inspirational quote from Rumi is: Let the beauty we love be what we do, there are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.
For today's giveaway, gleena is generously offering the following to THREE winners:
One winner will receive a E is for elephant wee tea cup
One willer will receive a O is for owl wee tea cup
And one winner will receive a set of four wee tea cups
(E is for elephant, O is for owl, L is for lion, and K is for kangaroo)
To enter today's giveaway, please leave a comment (one entry per person, please) in today's post. I'll close comments by 9am EST on Monday, and announce the winner(s), chosen via Random Number Generator, shortly after.
Thank you to gleena! The winners are...
e is for elephant ~
have been swooning over these for quite some time ~ love love!
Posted by: kimpeck
o is for owl ~
These are so beautiful!
Posted by: Boostraps Mama
all four wee cups ~
a Delight!
Posted by: Erin Coffey
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