A Teapot is Born...

      My relationship with teapots is rooted back in my childhood. I grew up in a Moroccan home where drinking tea was a major part of the culture. The tea was brewed in an ornate metal teapot with lots of fresh mint that we grew in our garden all year long. The tea was sweetened with lots of sugar and served in glass cups alongside homemade Moroccan cookies.

    I rediscovered teapots soon after I discovered clay, and they became my playground. Teapots provide me with a wide space to explore; they have bodies, feet, spouts, handles and tops, just like people! I like how these elements interact with each other, and I enjoy choreographing each teapot to have these elements play with each other in new ways.

    I start from a sketch, yet often times the teapot takes off and has a life of its own. My teapots are non-functional (yet not dysfunctional...), I find it just as challenging to make a teapot non-functional as it would be to make a working one.

    I like my teapots to be animated and to echo a familiar attitude or gesture with us human beings...