UNIQUE CERAMICS ANJA SLAPNIČAR

The scene shows a composition of handmade ceramics and a vase filled with sculpting tools and green leaves.

A room, in the centre of which there is a wooden table decorated with ceramic bowls, surrounded by wooden shelves displaying ceramic objects.

Two handmade ceramic figurines of a deer, standing in between the branches of a conifer tree.

Ceramics is nature

Anja Slapničar creates unique ceramics deeply connected to nature. In her works, she uses raw materials collected directly from the environment, with each piece bearing the mark of the specific location she explores. Carefully selected clay and stones become the building blocks of her functional yet aesthetically refined creations. Through the use of wood firing, which transforms clay into a material resembling stone, Anja creates transcendental ceramics that carry the stories and fingerprints of nature into everyday life.

The artist explains that wherever she goes, she finds and collects clay and stones. This practice of foraging is understood as a tool to acquire raw materials that form the foundation of her work—functional ceramics. In doing so, she creates the fingerprint (the mark of her hands) of the explored location in the form of ceramics that we touch and feel in our daily lives.

She also fires the clay with wood, and the wood-fired ceramics become transcendent, following the appearance of the stone circle, where heat fuses fragmented clay particles into a stone-like material.

About Anja Slapničar

A woman with clay in her hand is chiseling on a rock by the blue-green lake. — © *Arhcive of Anja Slapnicar*

Anja Slapničar is a ceramic designer and a university-trained geodesy engineer specializing in cartographic perception. Her knowledge of the land and navigation allows her to seek out natural clay, which she purifies and transforms into unique ceramics—reflections of the landscapes they come from.

A love for materials runs in her blood; she comes from a family of millers and tanners. She believes that ceramics can convey a sense of place—even through everyday objects like a coffee cup. At times, she also wood-fires her clay, transforming it back into a stone-like material and forging a connection between nature and functional art.