The Studio Visit: Atelier Brume

Emilie Lisi, founder of Atelier Brume, moves between ceramics, art, design, and embroidery with attention to the concreteness of the object and, at the same time, to the relational value beyond form. In this compositional process, we find raw and refined lands, pure and variegated in a mixture that leads to the alchemical.

A deep half-breed that the artist obsessively molds and shapes terracotta inside and out, alternating refined craftsmanship and a restless intuition for the invisible core of objects. The compositions grow in an atmosphere of continuous experimentation; the fragility of the material suggests directions, shape, architecture, and color. Emilie's ceramics, in their elegance and formal power, maintain mysterious sides, reverse embroidery, and dark hollows revealing themselves to be fragile buildings of the intimate.

While on short breaks from intensely molding and shaping terracotta inside and out in extraordinary silhouettes of timeless elegance, Emilie Lisi talks about her creative process and inspirations.

Tell us about your creative journey.

I am self-taught. I studied textile design and now I work as a freelance for several brands. After many years in the fashion industry, with its wild rhythms and frenetic processes, I felt the need for a new material to express myself, to gain some fresh creative inputs. This is how I met the clay, expression of earth: this element has always been essential in my life. This sensory experience in the dimension of memory has turned into a real means of expression and composition. In this material and in its working, I also found a new relationship with time, a reconnection with myself, with an oneiric, invisible dimension.

What does “art” mean in your expressive category?

My work is very intuitive. Through the clay I try to crystallize a thought, an energy, a flavor. My intention is to give shape to objects that preserve a soul, extending beyond the dimension of aesthetic or utility. My vases are compositions that do not follow a production line, but an intimate path, private and mystical, and therefore, tending towards the universe. This makes each piece unique.

In an era of fast use, like ours, what characteristics must an artwork have to last over time?

A soul, a bond with deep thoughts and an advanced technique.