11 June 2026

Artist Highlight - Barbara Stelmachowska

Interview and Review

Designer, researcher, Doctor of Fine Arts.

She graduated from the University of Arts in Poznan and the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław. Winner of the Haier Design Prize by IF competition, finalist of the international MakeMe! competition. She is the curator of the Craft Lab 3d project and the PlanT exhibition.

Her work is focused on porcelain and pushing its boundaries. She conducts speculative projects and technological experiments, including scanning and 3D printing in ceramics. Her creations are strongly influenced by sustainable, socially engaged design, which was her starting point as her career began. Even when she creates porcelain tableware, her pieces often convey a broader story.

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ARTIST INTERVIEW

1. In The Wonders and Wanders of Matter, you describe porcelain as something that “becomes” rather than simply reflects the maker’s intention. How does this idea shape your approach to making?

This is my new project, which is part of my search for a new directions. In a sense, it is the opposite of what I used to do, which was traditional design within a linear process – from sketch, through model, to the finished object. In this project, the whole process runs in parallel, and its stages intertwine. This approach gives me a lot of joy; it allows me to enjoy every little action.

2. Your process uses flexible textile moulds that stretch and shift during casting. How does this instability influence the final form of the porcelain objects?

The overall shape and size of the objects depend on the textile mould hanging in the frame. What happens during the casting process is unique every time. A slight tilt, bend or stretch in a particular direction makes each cast unique, giving it the appearance of a living organism rather than a defined object.

3. Porcelain is often associated with precision and control. What interests you about deliberately relinquishing that control within the casting process?

Artists working with porcelain in small studios often struggle with technical challenges. Porcelain is a fussy material; keeping it under control is no easy task. Realising a project in which I relinquish some of that control is like a punk, rebellious act: I set aside the rules of the craft and act on intuition.

Of course, the entire process and the technology I’m developing are difficult and demanding. However, the difficulty here lies in something completely different from, for example, keeping a totally oval shape or a smooth surface, as is usually needed.

4. By placing the mould and the material on equal footing, you position them as co-creators. How does this challenge conventional ideas of authorship in craft and design?

Often, when working with the material, we push its boundaries, as it were; in our search for new forms, we demand the near-impossible from the material (and from ourselves). This approach is, of course, constructive and allows us to push boundaries, but I also believe it is essential to listen to the material. Allowing it to have its say gives me the chance to achieve effects and forms that I would never have achieved through the purely design(planning) process alone.

5. The forms appear both fragile and organic, almost as if they are still in the process of forming. How important is this sense of transformation or becoming within the series?

‘I think this project is really about the process, the creation itself, rather than about the finished objects. I bring to the surface and showcase the workshop ‘dirt’ that is usually hidden and smoothed away in porcelain casting.’

6. Across your practice, porcelain moves between functional objects and speculative forms. Where does The Wonders and Wanders of Matter sit within that spectrum?

In this project, I continue to work with porcelain, which is the most important material to me, although I approach it in a completely different way than before. This time, I don’t make demands of it; instead, I listen to what it has to say.

LETTING MATERIAL SPEAK

Review by Chih-Yang Chen, Art Director

Barbara Stelmachowska’s The Wonders and Wanders of Matter feels like a quiet shift in attitude. Rather than directing porcelain toward a predetermined outcome, the work steps back and allows the material to take part in shaping itself. What becomes immediately apparent is the absence of a fixed form. The objects do not present themselves as resolved designs. Instead, they appear caught mid-process, as if still forming. Edges stretch, surfaces sag slightly, volumes seem to hover between stability and collapse. There is a sense that each piece has arrived through negotiation rather than control. This approach marks a departure from traditional design logic. Instead of moving from sketch to object in a linear sequence, the process unfolds in parallel. Making, adjusting, observing, and responding happen simultaneously. The result is not a single decisive gesture, but an accumulation of small, responsive actions. You can feel this in the work. It carries a certain looseness, a willingness to accept variation. The use of textile moulds plays a central role in this shift. Unlike rigid moulds that enforce consistency, these flexible structures introduce instability. They stretch, tilt, and respond to gravity, meaning that no two casts behave in exactly the same way. The mould is no longer a neutral tool. It becomes an active participant, shaping outcomes alongside the material itself. What is interesting here is how this redistribution of control affects authorship. The work resists the idea of the designer as sole decision-maker. Instead, it suggests a more distributed process, where intention, material behaviour, and circumstance intersect. The final form is not fully authored, but co-produced. There is also a subtle tension between fragility and presence. Porcelain, often associated with refinement and precision, is allowed to show its more unstable qualities. Surfaces are not perfected or corrected. What would typically be considered flaws, irregularities, distortions, traces of process, are left visible. Rather than diminishing the work, these elements become its defining language. In this sense, the project shifts attention away from the finished object and towards the act of making itself. What is usually hidden in the workshop, the so-called “dirt” of the process, is brought forward. The work does not attempt to conceal how it was made. It insists on it. Ultimately, The Wonders and Wanders of Matter is less about producing objects and more about rethinking the relationship between maker and material. By relinquishing a degree of control, Stelmachowska opens up space for something less predictable, but more responsive. The work does not simply reflect an idea. It emerges through a process of listening, where porcelain is no longer passive, but active in its own becoming.