ONE CRAFT.
INFINITE POSSIBILITIES.
Meet our Circle of Ceramicists
Learn ceramics in the western Algarve from our circle of ceramicists coming from near and far. We bring together ceramicists whose work is rooted in years of making, curiosity about material, form and finish, and a lifetime of refining their craft.
Chiara Caselli
Wheel Throwing | Hand Building | Contemporary Art
Born in Sassuolo, a cornerstone of Italian ceramic heritage, Chiara is an Italian designer and ceramist based in Amsterdam.
Founder of CCONTINUA, she investigates the rituality gestures of everyday life through clay and porcelain. At a formal level, her use of shapes and aesthetic has the ability to suspend the surface of what she hand-shapes in a timeless yet refined design.
Together with her partner, she co-founded CCONTINUA+MAMT, an artistic exploration on the primal energy in shaping matter through a poetic and figurative language. Their practice transforms a broad spectrum of mediums into canvas for storytelling, crafting decorative artworks that convey mystical and poetic visions.
Since 2022, she has also co-founded Swayze Amsterdam, a ceramic based center for the creative community to investigate ceramic production and master the art of pottery through educational activities. Artists, designers and craftspeople of all backgrounds converge to experiment, learn, make, reflect and grow artistically.
Photo credits: Zsofia Bodnar and Carlo Piro.
Maria Bezuglaya
Wheel Throwing | Hand Building | Clay & Glazes | Firing
Maria Bezuglaya is a multidisciplinary artist working primarily with ceramics, alongside glass, installation, video and photography. Originally from Moscow she is based in Portugal since 2019. She holds a BA in Journalism from Moscow State University and a Master’s degree in Art and Science in Ceramics and Glass from VICARTE, Lisbon. Her practice combines material experimentation with an interest in memory, place, the body and the relationship between people and their environments.
Her work often develops through site-specific and participatory approaches, moving between intimate sculptural objects and larger installations. Alongside her individual practice, Maria has over a decade of experience working with ceramics and teaching. She currently works from her studio in Palmela, Portugal, where she develops her artistic projects, commissions, workshops and community-based events.
Maria has been working with ceramics for over 12 years. Beginning her practice independently in Moscow in 2014 and later developing it through professional training, including an intensive wheel-throwing programme at La Meridiana International School of Ceramics in Italy. In 2022, she completed a Master’s degree in Ceramics and Glass – Art and Science at VICARTE, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa.
Over the years, she has worked extensively with wheel throwing, handbuilding, glazing, kiln firing and material experimentation, as well as alternative firing techniques. She has also founded and managed ceramic studios in Moscow and now runs her own studio in Palmela, Portugal.
Maria has more than 10 years of experience teaching ceramics, working with both complete beginners and more experienced students. From 2016 to 2019, she ran and taught at Terracotta Ceramics and Pottery Squat in Moscow, and has continued teaching since moving to Portugal.
“I particularly enjoy helping students develop independence and their own visual and material language rather than simply reproducing a specific object or technique.”
Student’s work
Student’s work
Maria’s primary practice is ceramics, particularly wheel throwing and handbuilding. She works across functional ceramics, sculptural objects, installation and collectible design. She is especially interested in the point where craftsmanship, material experimentation and contemporary art meet.
Her current practice includes sculptural ceramics, teapots and functional objects, site-specific work and ceramic lighting. She also works with glass, video, photography and installation, often combining different media within the same project.
“I am especially interested in the point where craftsmanship, material experimentation and contemporary art meet.”
Ricardo Lopes
Wheel Throwing | Hand Building | Traditional Techniques
Ricardo Lopes is a ceramist and potter, developing his work in the area of contemporary ceramics using traditional shaping and decoration techniques, with a particular focus on the potter's wheel and glaze composition. He holds a degree in Marine Biology and Fisheries and began his journey in ceramics in 1998, as a self-taught artist, later completing the Creative Ceramics Course at CENCAL in 2004.
Throughout his career, he completed internships in Poland and Cape Verde, and worked with the sculptor Jorge Mealha in Lagos. He participated in several workshops dedicated to special effects glazes and traditional techniques, and was an artist-in-residence in countries such as France, Japan, China, and India, deepening his contact with different ceramic cultures.
With a consolidated exhibition career, Ricardo has participated in several solo and group exhibitions, both in Portugal and abroad. He was also a key figure in the restoration of José João Velhote's old pottery workshop and in the creation of the Oficina do Barro (Clay Workshop).
Alongside his artistic practice, he has developed ongoing work in the field of education. He is a trainer at Loulé Criativo, where he has been teaching pottery courses regularly since 2018.
Clear head. Calm nervous system.
Fired-up creativity.
Leave with stronger skills, work you’re proud of, new friends, and that strange combination of being tired yet feeling rested and reset, wondering how six days somehow feel so much longer.
All that, and an unstoppable urge to keep making.