Vase Deep sea, 2021

Olivia Cognet  

Since moving to Los Angeles in 2016, French artist and designer Olivia Cognet has focused on ceramics as the fertile medium through which she expresses her limitless creativity.

With the freedom that this material gives her to explore all types of shapes and sizes, she creates monumental bas-reliefs and giant totems, as well as chairs, tables, lamps and vases.

These unique pieces, handmade by the artist in his studio, all share the same aesthetic, abstract and graphic requirement. It is inspired by the shadows and lights of California's landscapes, its modernist architecture and its intense nature.

Part of the great tradition of decorative arts, his works are both functional and powerfully evocative.

Olivia Cognet grew up in Nice on the Côte d'Azur, studied at the Villa Arson and was inspired by the brilliant masters of the Vallauris school, from Picasso to Roger Capron; for her, ceramics are a key element of architecture.

She begins by exploring ideas on paper, before moving on to stoneware, using a local clay that comes in three natural shades.

His creations highlight the power of contrasts; his minimal and geometric lines intertwine with a sensual and organic vocabulary.

The austere aesthetic of raw clay is enhanced by the elegance of crackled glazes, which generate unique effects.

Elsewhere, ethereal growths defy the laws of gravity.

Day after day, guided by her intuition, Olivia Cognet reinvents the poetic experience of creation.