my work

Mara Funghi building a vesselMy pottery is totally hand made, without the use of the electric wheel, so that I can follow the journey of each piece from the beginning to the end of the creative process. Only in this way I feel that each piece totally belongs to me and that it is connected to a very unique moment or related to a particular mood.
I work with the clays and other materials of my land: wood, stone, tuff. Even the colours of my glazes refer to my land:the skyblues, the meadow greens, the ploughed fields orange-browns, the sunset reds.
The firing process is the most exciting moment, RAKU means joy, delight and to me it is really this. Every time it is about organization, both a practical and spiritual rite, to be lived alone or shared with others, it gives energy and allows me to transmit the same feeling to those who are next to me.
Each piece is singularly fired, removed from the white-hot kiln, covered with straw, smoked in “plein-air” and then quickly plunged into cold water … everything happens in a very short time. During this phase the piece undergoes so many transformations … and it is up to me to decide when to stop the process in the exact moment I am completly satisfied by the results.
This is why each piece is unique and unrepeteable.