Linda Ouhbi

Linda Ouhbi is a French ceramicist living in   Paris. In her studio in Pantin, Linda Ouhbi makes pieces often created with the oldest traditional techniques, before the appearance of the potter's wheel, the plaster mold and any means allowing the reproducibility of the object in series. They are modeled from a ball of earth or using techniques that require slower work and celebrate time. Linda Ouhbi creates pieces in stoneware using handbuilding and coil technique. This ancestral process necessitates a slow construction and permits the development of a relationship with each piece. Throughout the quest for a fragile balance during the construction of each piece, there begins a dialogue that influences the shapes that emerge. Each piece therefore holds the traces of a unique emotional quality, an intimate premise that comes from within.

The pieces become unique, hold a delicate balance and imperfect beauty. Usual or decorative pieces imprinted, each with an emotional quality of its own. Such a very intimate premise that comes from within. As for shapes she wants them pure and generous, contemporary and inspired by the oldest forms of pottery. The enamels that she use are the result of personal research. Blends of minerals, metal oxides and rocks, enamel recipes developed in my workshop give a patina finish.

Moved by the rare subtlety of prehistoric works and inspired by the creations of the first people, Linda Oubhi creates pieces that question the ideas of function and utility, but above all, the notion of time and progress.

Simplicity, refined, modesty, sobriety, work of time and time that passes, beauty of nature, emptiness and silence ... as an approach, a spiritual disposition, a philosophy that guides Linda Ouhbi's choices.

"The earthy, used aspect of my ceramics results from research centering on glazes undertaken in the ceramicist’s workshop using raw natural materials. More than a trade or the quest for an aesthetic, I approaches my field as a lifestyle—the pursuit of an essential, primordial state—a quest for simplicity."