My name is Sofia, I’m 28 years old and I was born and raised in Lisbon. Three years ago, I moved to Paris, where I work as a freelancer for a fashion production agency. I share a ceramic studio in the 11eme arrondissement with two other girls and I sometimes collaborate with brands on Instagram. I feel very lucky to be able to work in two areas that I love: fashion, and ceramics.

Creating and making objects is definitely my favourite thing. I would really love to spend more time at the studio but sometimes it’s a bit difficult to organise my schedule because I always have 175,958 things going on at the same time. Also, everything takes time with ceramics. You really have to be patient and do things with no rush. Stress and pressure are really the worst enemies of ceramics.

I started in Lisbon while I was doing my Masters in Cultural Management. My classes were at night, and I had some free time during the day, so I decided to try some classes without any pretensions. I started at Caulino, a small studio in Lisbon and a few months later, I decided to start at ARCO, the art school in Lisbon, and do the first year of the ceramics diploma while I was still studying. In September 2019, I moved to Paris and I continued to explore ceramics by myself. It's been a great journey, but I still have a lot to learn. Even though I'm no longer taking classes, I'm still learning, either by watching other people work, or just by practising, making mistakes, and trying to solve them.

Oh, thank you! I think it’s quite intuitive. It mainly reflects my moods and state of mind. But yes, I have always loved playing with colours. I think I was influenced by the city where I grew up in, Lisbon, which is a very colourful city. And also because bright colours make me happy. My work as a ceramist is mainly all about colour. The shapes are quite simple but I thinks it’s colour what makes the pieces more interesting.

I'm inspired by a lot of things. It can be films, people, music, books, artists I admire... I think if you keep your eyes open, you will find inspiration everywhere. Of course, I also admire a lot of ceramic artists, like Grayson Perry, Bella Silva or Peter Shire, just to name a few.

I’m a morning person, so I start quite early. I feel mornings are more quiet, less busy and help me to be fully concentrated. There's always music, playing very loud, and I always have either a large coffee or a very large tea next to me. I usually start by organising my stuff, cleaning my materials and recycling some clay. This can take about an hour. Then it really depends on my mood: sometimes I can be very productive and creative, and sometimes I just draw some pieces and write some ideas in my notebook. I usually leave the studio around 1pm to have lunch at home and work on my other projects.

Ideally, I would like to take better care of myself so I always love to learn from more experienced people and try to improve my self-care routine a little more. In the end, I realise that the best way to take care of myself is to fly to Lisbon to see my family and friends and have a swim in the sea. I think the most important thing is to take care of your mind. Everything else will come after. I have always heard that the skin reflects how we feel and, in my case, whenever I have bad skin or weird reactions, it’s always because I'm not feeling happy.

I don’t really have a very strict skincare routine. One of my resolutions for 2022 was to never go to bed without washing my face. And I managed to do it, ha, ha! I also try to drink as much water as possible because working with clay really dries out my skin.

I love the fact that the ingredients are all organic and plant-based, and the packaging is always so beautiful! My favourite product is definitely the Eye Contour Serum. It’s so refreshing! I love using it in the morning, after my shower, while I'm still in my robe and with a towel on my head. It feels so good to put it on, and I can instantly feel how it helps to reduce my early morning puffy eyes.

I will continue to develop my ceramic projects. I want to take a step further and maybe create my own brand. I will also keep going to Lisbon every two months to see my family and friends. This is what makes me come back to Paris with full energy to work on my projects!