Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Tasja Pulawska | Episode 468
Tasja Pulawska was born in Warsaw in 1983 and lived in different parts of Europe before finally finding her home in Copenhagen. Tasja studied graphic design in Warsaw and Media art at the Bauhaus university in Germany. Tasja worked as a Graphic designer for about 5 years, and about 10 years ago she tarted playing with clay. Tasja decided to make pottery her full-time occupation in 2014. Tasja was a workshop assistant in a shared working space/studio in Oslo, and after moving to Denmark in 2014 she became Eric Landon’s apprentice and later assistant at Tortus Copenhagen (for two and half years). Tasja opened her own workshop in December 2016.
SPONSORS
Number 1 brand in America for a reason. Skutt.com
For all your ceramic needs go to Georgies.com
How much did job dissatisfaction play in changing careers?
I think it was dissatisfaction because I changed the country I lived in so I didn’t know Norwegian when I left for Norway. Also when we moved to Denmark I didn’t know Danish and being a graphic designer, language is pretty important especially because I was mostly doing industrial design and logos and things like that. So to find a really good job doing this was difficult. I designed things that I liked when I was living in Poland. I thought being a potter, of course I would have clients, but I am not making anything specific for them. I was struggling as a graphic designer getting my ideas through and I ended up making things I didn’t like very often because I was just listening to what clients were ordering and what they want. I do not have to do that being a potter.
When you started looking around was ceramics just one option or were you looking at a lot of options?
I think I was thinking about some other things too. But ceramics was definitely my first option. When I started university I think I wanted to do design in general at first and then it started to be graphic design. I always wanted to make things actually.
How did you go about developing the proper skills to be able to turn it from a hobby to a career?
When I moved to Denmark I made a little leaflet and I was walking from door to door and asking all the potters I could find and asking if they could use free help in any way and if they could teach me. So to be an apprentice. Tortus took me as an apprentice so I had a quite classical apprenticeship for two years. I was throwing millions of cylinders and I was trying to make the same shapes he was back then making a lot. When he began teaching I assisted in teaching and then later started teaching. I have quite a solid background because of Eric and I learned most of it at his studio.
In the learning process, how important is it to do it with others instead of doing it alone?
I think it is important because if you have a good teacher the learning curve is just much faster because you don’t have to go through all the times where you don’t do it right.
What tools did you love at the beginning and now never touch?
I don’t know if I have tools like that, I always like to not use too many tools. But I remember I had these really weird, if I could call them spatulas, for taking things off the wheel, they were metal and it actually never worked very well. But I was using this because someone showed me and when I started working with Eric I gave them away because I never used them again.
How much does your graphic designer background influence your work or your presentation of your work?
I still use it a lot. I also studied photography so that helps with Instagram. I design my own logo. I design any leaflets or whatever else, I can design them pretty fast. I also think my design thinking in general helped me to be the potter that I am today.
Book
Contact:
Instagram: @tasjap_ceramics