Who am I
Hello, I’m glad you’re here!
My name is Rotem, and I’m a ceramic maker based in Pardes Hanna-Karkur.
I’m the owner of Mudmade Studio for clayware and the mother of Liri.
I make every clay with my own two hands, from coming up with an idea for a new
shape to carefully choosing the glazes that will imbue it with unique colors.
I strive for a clean and simple style and lean towards monochromatic shades. My clay works are inspired by nature and the Japanese wabi-sabi style, which sees beauty in the pursuit of the imperfect-whole.
Both in my own work and with my students in the studio, I’m preoccupied with the
tension between contrasts: new and old, rough and smooth, symmetrical and
asymmetrical, rounded and linear, dark and light, whole and broken.
I'm concerned with the delicate balance between the earthly, raw material, the shape we give it and the spirit we breathe into it: an unequal triangle between matter and spirit and between hands and heart.
I hope you’ll find the one-piece clay that will bring you or your loved one much
comfort, aesthetic, and functionality.
I’m always be happy to hear from you.
And for those who are interested in a little more:
I grew up in Jerusalem, and studied at an arts high school and then in the Department of Fine Arts at Bezalel.
Despite my years-long education and training, I missed practicality. I searched for beauty that would also be of use, so I turned to stage design, and for several years I created various props and puppets (mainly realistic) for movies and television shows.
At the same time, I studied hairdressing, and for a decade I was also engaged in that—
but then I encountered the centuries-old art of ceramic and immediately felt at home.
Everything I love about creation came together: the combination of beauty and functionality, the variety of the work process itself, the knowledge that I’m part of a long tradition of craftmanship, the meditative practice, the need to find again and again the balance between holding and releasing—in short, all of the precious things that working with clay and on the wheel demands and teaches...
Year after year, other areas of work fell away from me, and I was absorbed more and more in working with clay and glazes. It was, and still is, a lifelong process of trial and error. There’s always more to discover, and the learning is meaningful and ongoing.
Working with clay is process-oriented; it is slow, calculated yet spontaneous.
Every aspect of it has its own rhythm and tempo.
These qualities can counter many current trends of automation and mass production.
What clay offers is going against the acceleration and constant shortening of processes. Instead, it is the aspiration to be fully and respectfully present in both simple and complex processes. Choosing to engage with it is to surrender to changing conditions.
And it’s the gentleness. The listening. The yielding to uncertainty.
These are the things I wish for myself and for all of us.
I hope you’ll feel this through your touch with my clay works - each of which is one of its kind - and that something will pass on.
Thank you.
Photos: Yael Shelach