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As part of the exhibition “Crafting Reality: In Search of Alternative Habitats”, presented in Valencia during València Design Fest and Tiempo+Materia, the exhibition curator, Dr Alicja Głuszek, prepared a text exploring our practice.

The text was written as part of the materials accompanying the exhibition and prepared for the catalogue “Crafting Reality: In Search of Alternative Habitats.” It offers a curatorial perspective on our work — our relationship with material, the importance of locally sourced materials, working with fire, and our references to traditional ceramic techniques.

Alicja Głuszek is a cultural events and exhibition producer and curator. She has previously worked with, among others, the National Museum in Kraków and the Photomonth and Unsound festivals, where she coordinated contemporary art exhibitions. She is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Complutense University of Madrid and the programme curator of the Nówka Sztuka art fair in Kraków. She holds degrees in International Relations from Jagiellonian University and Contemporary Art from the University of the Commission of National Education. She is a recipient of fellowships from the Kosciuszko Foundation and the Tokyo Foundation, and works as a Latin Americanist, lecturer, and researcher.

Below, we publish the full text by Alicja Głuszek on our practice.

Jakub Ciemachowski and Piotr Kołakowski´s practice is rooted in resistance. Their discontentedness with industrial mass production and consumerism led them to study ceramics and work with clay. Through Huba Studio, they stress the importance of trusting the logic of natural processes. As Jakub and Piotr highlight “if you want to force clay to do what it doesn't want, it will not let you. It is better, then, to interact with the material; to work with it, not against it. Together with fire, air and water, you learn to create objects that are simple, proportionate, and evoke the colors of the surrounding landscape.“ This outlook may seem utopian, or at least romanticized, yet it is in reality down-to-earth and realistic through its connection to ancestral traditions and nature. Woodfiring, which Huba Studio applies to all its production, requires constant attention as wood must be manually fed into the kiln to keep the firing on schedule. Thus patience and time are essential. The work inside a wood kiln is not only subject to the heat from the fire, but also to shifting atmospheres of reduction and oxidation, smoke, ash, embers and volatile minerals from the burning wood moving through and around them. The result is perceived by the team with excitement and apprehension, as it is subject to uncertainty.

Jakub and Piotr look for their references in traditional patterns and pre-modern techniques. They source their materials locally, yet the forms they tend to express are from far-away locations. For example, their ash-glazed stoneware draws from Chinese and Korean inspirations. Black pottery, on the other hand, is a technique native to Poland as well as many other regions across the globe.In this respect, Piotr and Jakub explore it as a link between their own heritage and other cultures.  Their practice relies on gentle and attentive gestures that honor organic colors, textures, and shapes. This approach creates a production which is personal and humble, and where the material and the method play a dominant role. The artists are astute students; they observe, comply with, and adapt to what the clay and wood-firing conditions allow. Mastery of the technique reflects here more trust in the process and an honoring of nature than control or forceful actions.

In this exhibition, the black ceramic series is presented, namely Kurinuki boxes and Tors, whose shapes mirror earthy and rock formations. The sculptural character of these pieces crosses geology and archaeology, making us pause and surrender to the notion that these are not separate realities. Human life is intertwined with earth, which is a source of the first symbols necessary to build culture. They fascinate with a deep, matte black finish and rough, pebbled edges. Carbon-black shapes attract us into their voids, and their textures activate the sense of touch. Multiples have been selected for this  display in order to highlight the uniqueness of each piece and the inspiration from geological formations with which they are imbued. The kurinuki technique, a traditional Japanese pottery method, preserves the clay´s properties as the objects are carved from a solid block of clay by cutting and tearing away fragments.