After graduating from a design degree in 2009, it didn’t take Elif Esmez long to realise she was more of a tactile person who wanted to ‘work with her hands’ in ways beyond sitting at a computer.
‘I started to take some basic hand building ceramic classes to learn how to work with clay basically, and that was the hook!’ Elif says. ‘It’s been almost 10 years now and I still have so much passion for it.’
Elif still works at a computer sometimes — as a freelance graphic designer — but following years of working at multiple ceramic production studios of different products, she recently decided to launch her own design studio, ESMEZ. She recently revealed her debut collection, ITSEF.
ISTIF means ‘stack of/stacking’ in Turkish and describes Elif’s pedestal plates that come in various sizes designed to be stacked. The result sees mini mountains of milky white and pastel ceramics that are both ornamental and functional.
‘I’ve always been attracted by the shape of pedestal plates and bowls, but actually the idea was creating a product with more than one function and different uses, not limited to table setups or food serving,’ Elif says.
She sees her pieces as a multipurpose ‘blank canvases’ for the user to interpret however they need, whether that’s as a centrepiece for a dinner party; a window display; or as a quirky sculpture in their own right.
Using ‘awkward’ or irregular as her inspiration, Elif starts her creative process with sketches on paper. ‘Once I feel happy with it, I shape it out of clay and create the model to make my plaster moulds,’ she says.
‘Ceramic production is a long handcrafting process, especially since the porcelain clay I use is so delicate to work with. Clay has a memory — how you treat it in the process shows that in the end.’
The playful pieces reveal soft textures and dents of Elif’s light touch.
Elif says she already has plans to create a similar collection, but this time out of glass. We can’t wait to see what she does next!
