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Silvia and Teresa

"My name is Sílvia. I had a very cheerful childhood, always outdoors on the farm, playing with animals, in direct contact with nature. There I had my first contacts with art, because my mother's family was comprised of several musicians and poets, and my mother adored fine art. In spite of that, my parents never directly motivated me to follow an artistic career. But I remember a gardener on our farm who was a true artist. He made little houses for us, created jewelry and things from coconut and bamboo, besides firing the clay pots I created in the wood-burning stove.

"When Teresa was a child, she spent vacations on the farm or in Petrópolis. Her grandmother always encouraged her to paint and to take part in theater, among other artistic activities. But she became really interested in art during her adolescence. Everyone was pleased because, in her family, everyone practiced some kind of art. While still a teen, Teresa began working with leather, later she painted until she discovered ceramics. They fascinated her from the very first day.

"It was very entertaining, but my real interests in art appeared when I was around 20, already an adult. My previous contact with woodcrafts led me to ceramics. It came about like a way to rescue the earth and through playing with clay on the farm as a child. I never graduated with a degree in art, but for nine years I took classes in painting, wood, ceramics and plaster, and have had 15 years of direct contact with ceramics.

"Teresa never took any special courses. She was always very curious, and today she has mastered a number of techniques. Her intention in art is to create and to express everything that comes from her imagination in clay. In 2002, she stopped teaching to work with me.

"That was when we set up our workshop on a horse farm, using four stables in the vicinity of Rio de Janeiro. This has combined functionality with pleasure because we are always doing what we like and are in direct contact with nature.

"Transforming clay into a design is something beautiful, almost magic. Art is always the vehicle through which we express our pleasure. Discovering ceramics has allowed me a greater involvement with this universe. The expressiveness of our works comes from this passion generated when seeing the clay transformed into something beautiful, created by our hands. Due to this, we concern ourselves with seeking clays with the right properties for my work, mainly the potter's wheel.

"We always tried to recycle our extra clay and we create our own glazes because of concerns with the toxicity of existent glazes on the market because, after all, we work with dishes.

"By working with Novica, we are opening to a new, wider and stronger market. Our expectation is to grow together."