Onka Allmayer-Beck

Ceramicist

©CarolinaRevertera

From fashion to ceramics, a path towards more colour

Onka uses bright colours to craft design ceramics
She draws inspiration from daily life
She loves exchanging about her craft with young people

Onka Allmayer-Beck, a graduate of Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design at the University of the Arts London, spent over a decade in Milan as a fashion designer, working for icons like Giorgio Armani. After leaving her job, Onka invested in a potter's wheel and kiln. She hunted for a ceramics teacher and a thorough search led her to a master craftsman from Milan. For a year, Onka underwent rigorous training, her mentor relentlessly pushing her to improve by repeatedly dismantling her work. During a cultural exchange trip to Russia, Onka discovered coil and slab building techniques, which ignited her passion for pottery. She refrains from naming her creations, opting for numbers instead. This helps her to maintain an emotional distance from her pieces which she says facilitates parting with and selling her works.

Interview

©CarolinaRevertera

©CarolinaRevertera

What makes materials interesting to you?: I have always loved working with natural products. In the past, it was leather, and now it is leather-hard clay. These materials can be manipulated to a point, but eventually, you must release them to let them take their own form.
What role does colour play in your work?: I choose colours only after firing, based on the object's overall impact. Most of my objects feature bold, flat colours that come to life with changes in daylight.
What advice do you have for young people?: First, have a passion. Do not do something just because it is cool on Instagram. Second, educate yourself financially. Know how to run a business, how to do accounting. Thirdly, have a bit more stamina than many people have these days. Stick with it, learn, look, be curious – and ask questions.
Where do you find your inspiration?: Inspiration can come from anything in daily life: the gutter on a wall during your commute, the tile on a church floor, or the cellulite bumps in a baroque painting of a nude. You just have to observe. Everything you see can be implemented directly.

Onka Allmayer-Beck is an expert artisan: she began her career in 2015