Art for the Table

About the author

French ceramist Claire Lippmann is an independent artist living in Mexico City. Her works have been exhibited internationally in museums and art galleries, and since last year she has been focusing on artistic tableware. She has collaborated with Nespresso, Hilton Hotels, Montage Los Cabos, Twin Dolphins, Chileno Bay Resort, and Chef Mauro Colagreco. Her murals and tableware have embellished many private homes throughout the world.

When I first discovered ceramics,it was a complete revelation. I had found exactly what I was meant to do, I had found my purpose in life, my passion. It came across hard because I had never expected it. Since the age of 12 I was convinced I wanted to be a psychologist. I discovered my new obsessive passion at the age of 22, and when my hands touched clay for the first time I instantly fell in love and I never let go.

As a child I had a nomadic lifestyle due to my father ’s profession. Moving every two to five years; from Paris, France (where I was born), to Santiago de Chile, to Atlanta, Georgia, to Mexico City, to Jakarta, Indonesia and finally to New York City on my own, where I at tended the university. I had fallen in love with Mexico as a teenager and found a way to go back there indefinitely as soon as I graduated from university. His name is Gustavo Pérez, Mexico’s renown ceramist, and he was my mentor for three years right after college. I was lucky to meet him through my best friend; her mom and he are good friends. The art studio is in Xalapa, Veracruz, where he and his assistants taught me all the necessary foundations and techniques of ceramics. I lived and worked there as an apprentice, working only Gustavo’s pieces during the week and my own pieces on the weekends. At that point my entire life revolved around ceramics, much like today.

I opened my own art studio in 2007 and with the nomadic bug in me, I moved around Mexico quite a bit before settling down at the top of the hills of Xochimilco in Mexico City where, this time, I actually had the art studio built. I like it here, it’s relatively close to the city but extremely calm and peaceful. My friends laugh when I tell them my art studio has the equivalent of two Michelin stars: people go out of their way to come visit the studio since there is literally absolutely nothing else to see nearby but hills.

Also in 2007, I was introduced to Sebastian (the Mexican sculptor, author of the Caballito de Reforma among many other sculptures). He introduced me to half of Mexico City and invited me to participate and collaborate in amazing projects such as making a brand-new ceramics studio in his foundation, the Sebastian Foundation, as well as participating in numerous exhibitions in Mexico and abroad. For many years he has been a great friend and holds an important place in my heart.

Throughout these years I exhibited my artworks in art galleries in Spain, the United States, Brazil, and all over Mexico. And then the pandemic hit all of us… After a rough 2020 I made the decision to stop exhibiting all together and to enter the restaurant and hotel world. Showcasing my art while wearing a mask sounded very unappealing to me, and traveling sounded even more unattractive. The transition also came easily because I had designed several murals composed of plates and had collaborated with brands such as Hilton Hotels and Nespresso. I noticed my plates were getting a lot of attention and went on with the transition very happily. Combining art and plates is something I enjoy very much. My pieces remain unique in the sense that not one is identical to the other and I enjoy the apparent repetition because that’s where my new designs and new ideas come from, like a tree with many many branches. That’s how creativity works for me: a never-ending path with opening paths opening to more paths. The next idea always comes from the previous one and so on and so forth.

Clay is such a noble material. It’s alive and subtle. It speaks to you but also listens to you. I find myself in a constant dialogue with nature and the four elements. The dialogue begins with clay and water as you begin creating, then air as you dry your pieces (also a critical part of one’s work in order to avoid cracks), and then f ire, who has the ultimate and last say in all of your work. Everything is handmade or spun on the wheel, I never use molds. My stoneware is fired at 1300 degrees Celsius and since it is very sensitive to brisk temperature changes, the firings last many hours. Each of my pieces go through two firings, the first one lasts 5 to 6 hours reaching one thousand degrees and the second one lasts 9 to 10 hours. I f ire with gas, manually because this allows me to control the gas pressure and temperature rise and to have complete control over what I want the fire to do to my glaze.

Here in Mexico, ceramics are still a craft. It’s not like in Europe where you can buy your clay and your glazes already made. Here you make ever y thing yourself. This long and delicate process fascinates me. I believe making your own clay and making your own glaze is part of building a connection with your art. From star t to finish you are there, paying attention to all the critical steps necessary to get a perfect desired end result. It’s all I’ve ever done and it’s the only thing I want to do. I’m still amazed at how easily I get up every morning bright and early, ready to devour the day, creating away.

Stoneware is my specialty. I love it because it’s so resistant and literally looks like stone. The clay I use is a special mix we make here at the studio. We blend five different clays together which give a unique end result, easily recognizable and almost impossible to break or chip. What I also love about ceramics is its sustainable and ecological aspect. Everything is recyclable from star t to finish and your hands are the tools you use the most, plus the fact that no chemicals are used; it’s completely environmentally friendly. Looking around my art studio, the only plastic I use are buckets… and they last years on end.

So much of me goes into every piece I make. Before I begin creating there’s al ready been so much preparation work. However, even passion takes a toll on you… I’ve already had two major surgeries that were work related. The first one was a hand surgery and the latter, a spine surgery less than a year ago, for what the doctors called a giant hernia. Even what you love the most isn’t necessarily good for you. Fortunately enough, the studio has grown with time and I now have more and more help from wonderful people that learn my ceramic ways with love and handle my pieces with the utmost care.

Working with chefs has been an amazing experience. Chef Xavier Salomon has been my mentor since entering the restaurant world (he laughed when I told him that). I met him thanks to chef Marc Narongchai, whom I met via Instagram. I had googled the top 10 chefs in Mexico and his name is on the list. I wrote to him and it turned out he liked my work very much and showed it to Xavier. Thanks to Xavier I have grown a lot in Los Cabos and was also given the opportunity to design and create for chef Mauro Colagreco for Mirazur Beyond Borders at Montage Los Cabos. When you sell art in a gallery you very rarely get to see it in people’s homes. In that sense your art simply vanishes, whereas working with chefs is the exact opposite. You see photos of your creations with the chef ’s creations on them and it’s such a satisfying experience! I t ’s a pity most chefs still aren’t used to giving credit to their ceramists now that handmade tableware is so in fashion. However, I’ve noticed it’s a matter of generation… younger chefs grew up with social media and have made it a habit to always mention their collaborating ceramists in their posts. After all, when you think about it, it is one hundred percent teamwork. One has not “existed” without the other, and as long as food is served on plates, this will remain true.

Published in Salty Magazine Vol. 13