Mauro Fariñas' seashell-inspired vessels capture a sense of childhood wonder

We love learning more about the Crafts community – who they are, what sparks their curiosity, and (perhaps, most importantly) what they enjoy making. So earlier this year we took to Instagram and asked our crafty readers to share a photo of our Spring/Summer 2024 issue in their studios, for a chance to be featured on our website and social platforms.

We’ve now selected three of our favourites – first up is Mauro Fariñas, a Berlin-based artist who works uses clay and glaze to create sculptural vessels that draw from his childhood memories of picking up seashells.

Tell us about your craft practice and how you got started.

Since I was a child, I have always made things. Going to art school was a natural choice. My work and studies were mostly photography-based but after a period of creative crisis, I realised photography was no longer the right fit. I craved more physicality, materiality, and connection with my inner, crafty child. That’s when I joined a community studio and started taking ceramic courses.

How has it developed over the years?

When I started in clay, I thought I was going to have a little brand and do tableware. I worked at the wheel and sold at markets. But I realised I don’t have the constitution to be a production potter. And I started to develop a catalogue of glazes that weren’t at all food safe. That pushed me into sculptural vessel territory. Last year I had residencies in Italy and Japan, which widened the scope of materials and techniques available to me.

What inspires your work?

I have a very distinctive memory of picking seashells as a child, which I often draw from. I grew up in Madrid, but spent summers at my grandparents’ house on the coast of Galicia. The shells and objects that the waves would wash ashore were charged with meanings that escaped me. Not only did they arrive from a realm inaccessible to me, often they would come with crusted structures, seaweeds attached, amalgamated, battered by time and tides.

What are your influences now?

The natural world, in its broadness, is still an inspiration, but I stay away from the literal. These days I’m looking at growing patterns, movement traces, that sort of thing. How a slug climbs a step or how a wave folds. Nature is a departure point to go looking for that feeling of awe I had as a child. The world was bigger then, full of mystery and uncertainty. I’m trying to capture that sense of wonder. By making, I am already adding something to this world, and I’d like my objects to widen this realm of possibilities.

Where do you like to work?

I love my new studio in Berlin, Kunsthalle Neukölln, not far from where I live. It’s an old industrial building that a group of artists took over about a year ago and turned into several independent studios. We are a small community of about 15 artists and designers. There's gardening space too, and two cats. It provides me both with my own tucked-away space and the right amount of social interaction. All through my art education and career, I have either worked on location, from home, or at community spaces. This is the first time I have a dedicated studio of my own.

What are you doing next? And what do you hope to produce in future?

Clay offers so many possibilities it can be hard to focus, but I’m trying to be more contained in my experimentation, and to make with a purpose. I’m scaling up my pieces and I’m reflecting more on what and why I’m doing, working towards a ‘thesis’ of sorts. It is a slow process, I don’t want to force my hand. I’m not ready yet to let go of the vessel idea, for instance, but it’s starting to feel more like a hindrance, and I foresee a turn towards the unapologetic sculptural work.

How long have you read or subscribed to Crafts and why?

I’ve followed Crafts for a while, but I subscribed to the physical magazine when it was redesigned in 2022. The new biannual format makes more sense to us international subscribers. Crafts opens windows into my imagination. Berlin is a big city but can still feel limited. The paths to art, design, and craft are very distinctive here, the organisation in guilds and unions and so on, the bureaucracy of making a living in these fields, the kind of possibilities for reaching an audience… Not to mention issues of belonging and foreignness. I think that Crafts honours the intersections, and I appreciate that. The world is full of people making, and that deserves celebration.

For the chance to enter future competitions and see more inspiring things from the world of craft, follow us here.