Meet Seychelles’ young local artists: |01 July 2020
Zara Albert, founder of Seyramics
A potter inspired by our natural flora & fauna
Zara Albert is a young Seychellois and founder of ‘Seyramics’ where she creates one-of-a-kind, handcrafted ceramic pieces that are mostly inspired by the natural flora and fauna of the Seychelles.
While there exist many things in pottery that one can venture into, her focus remains on delicately sculpted pieces inspired by nature, something which she feels give a beautiful feel and décor to one’s home by bringing what’s outside inside.
“I work a lot on recreating pieces such as shells which we should not collect on the beach and pieces inspired by local leaves and flowers,” she says. “I have the ‘Coco Fes’ fruit bowl, ‘Delicious Monster’ fruit bowl and ‘Octopus’ vase, just to name a few.”
Small scale production allows for each piece to be made just a few times, allowing Mrs Albert to work with the other endless possibilities of designs. Custom pieces are made with the clients’ own personal designs in mind which Mrs Albert describes as “timeless pieces” that her clients will forever have in their homes.
‘Modern pottery’ is how she describes her work; it’s not just about the decor, but about artistic crafts which have a purpose, like her ‘Coco de Mer’ burner for essential oils.
Pottery, she explains, has many steps but the most important is the first step which is making sure there are no bubbles in the clay before starting on a piece. If there are, your piece might explode or break at a later time.
There are different methods of making a piece. One can either “throw” which is making it on the potter’s wheel, hand building or slab work. Mrs Albert first starts with wedging the clay, secondly throwing or hand building, and thirdly comes the first bisque fire, “glazing” colouring a piece, and lastly glaze fire.
It all began when she started taking pottery courses as a therapeutic means while overseas and this, she says, slowly grew into a passion.
“I wanted to bring my creations and skills back home to my island. From small favours for friends and word of mouth, my small passion turned into a business. I work alone as this is where I can use pottery as a form of relaxation and therapy while doing something I am passionate about.”
Currently, she is also working with other small handmade businesses in Seychelles to bring more exposure to her artistic crafts.
While she can’t run any pottery classes at her studio at the moment, clients can come to her studio at Machabée for special services like taking a handprint for custom pieces.
For those interested, Seyramics pieces are available online on a made-to-order basis; customised ceramic pieces can also be made upon request. Some of the items can also be found in a few shops across Mahé such as Concept Plus-Plus and soon at Island Thyme.
For more information:
- Telephone: 2 52 66 17
- Email: seyramics@handmadesey.com
- Follow: seyramics.seychelles on Instagram and seyramics on Facebook
The accompanying photos show some of Mrs Albert’s creations.
Photo credits: Zara Albert
