ESP / EN
Catalina Hollmann:
Forms of Identity
My relationship with ceramics began when I finished school. I started going to a workshop run by a sculptor who would later become my great master, Maximiliano Abbiati. I was completely captivated by the world of clay and the coil-building technique -a method I worked and fell deeply in love with.
After about five years, I set up my first studio, and that’s when I dedicated myself to designing and creating stoneware pieces. Although I’ve always worked at high temperatures, porcelain is something I’ve been exploring more intensively in recent years.
What interests you about working with objects associated with everyday actions?
I pay an almost ridiculous amount of attention to everyday objects. I’m very drawn to the scale of detail.
Do you find information, in these everyday objects, that becomes a source of inspiration?
Yes, definitely. I play a lot with versatility. Within my system - or what I can now think of as my system - I work with small variations. An idea can stay with me for years, while undergoing small changes along the way, always within the same language and this system that has to do with intuition, among other things.
And intuition?
Intuition is a very important pillar. I read somewhere that it is the accumulation of unconscious experiences that we acquire over time. I thought that was a fantastic idea. When I’m creating, this mechanism allows me to move back and forth; it’s almost as though there was a certain authority within me that dictates whether something works or doesn’t work. It’s not something magical; it has to do with the journey.
Do you think it began in your childhood?
I think so. My mom was always involved in art. She used to take me along in my stroller to her sculpture classes when I was a baby. She painted, too. Nowadays, she focuses on contemporary jewelry. My dad is an architect. Childhood is a time of total openness, and those experiences definitely left their mark on me.
How does an initial idea transform through modelling, drying and firing?
Today, after twenty years, I can visualize and anticipate an idea almost in its entirety throughout the whole process: shaping, drying, bisque firing, glazing, and the final firing. Though, of course, there is always an element of surprise. Opening the kiln to reveal the final result remains a unique and incredible moment.
In the beginning, I imagine, it must have been very frustrating.. And then, suddenly, it turns into something almost magical.
Yes, absolutely. As I was saying, the process involved in this craft is truly long. Today, I can say that the sense of frustration is low. I also allow myself to experiment. Unexpected results always arise, but I incorporate them as part of the process.
Porcelain combines control and uncertainty. How do you work with something that can never be completely predicted?
Well, I think it ties into what we were discussing... Nowadays, I can foresee -or have a fairly clear idea of- whether a piece will work out right at the start of the process. That includes breaking pieces I can't quite resolve or that I feel aren't heading in the direction I want. And on a more technical level, a piece can always fail in the kiln, but it’s not that serious.
What makes an object create an intimate or emotional relationship with the person who uses it?
At best, from the very first moment you choose it, you acquire something that has touched you or reflected something back to you.
Something you identify with?
I think so, yes. Feeling that you identify with something. That creates a bond.
How do you build a family of pieces without each one losing its individual character?
That’s a good question. I think it is something that can emerge over the years -through the act of doing, doing, and doing, and the tireless pursuit of a singular vision. It stems somewhat from the idea of a journey taken, of discovering a specific identity. And this is evident in the existence of such a family -one with distinctive traits that nonetheless coalesce into a language of its own.
In terms of continuity, what new forms, scales or relationships with space would you like to explore?
I would like to go experiment with bigger pieces and play with other dimensions.
In relation to Proyecto Kavanagh, what did you find in the building that gave rise to the proposal you developed for this project?
The pieces I chose to make are very specific. Real objects that already exist and that I really like.
My reinterpretation of these objects relies on the details and unique characteristics of unglazed porcelain. I enjoy the process of building: stacking one thing upon another, adding elements, attaching this and that. Ultimately, my way of working is visible in every object.
February 21
2025
by THE OBLIST
Photo credits:
Emma Livingston
Catalina Hollmann (Buenos Aires, 1987) Catalina Hollmann began working with ceramics in 2005, attending Maximiliano Abbiati’s studio for several years. During this period, she also studied at the School of Ceramics No. 1 and the IUNA, now the UNA. In 2011, she opened her own studio and has since devoted herself to designing and producing unique, high-fired ceramic pieces. She currently lives in Buenos Aires, where she works and teaches from her studio in the Parque Chas neighbourhood. In her practice, ceramics emerge as a territory where craftsmanship and the contemporary intersect, and where playfulness, theatricality and the strength of fragility coexist. Her pieces recover gestures from other times and rearrange them into a language of her own, shaped by intuition and the poetic.