Breathing in and out
  I go to my quiet place
  pull up opposites that attract
  find harmony - oh so pleasing!
  Feel rhythm and movement
  play with shadow and light -
  did you see that curve?

My partner through thick and thin is white to translucent and has a memory like an elephant. She picks-up every finger print and marking and is very responsive to touch. She can be formed into functional shapes and into beautiful objects to behold. Our collaboration brings forth dinnerware, vases, objects and jewelry.

Two kinds of high-firing porcelains are my favourites to work with: Limoge (France) and Southern Ice (New Zealand/Australia). With them I shape organic flowing forms, throwing on the wheel or hand-building. I carve and etch patterns into the leather-hard porcelain or make relief patterns with shell-lack or acrylic medium and ‘wash’ away the porcelain around the markings. To clothe porcelain, I paint on celadon, glossy and matt glazes. I love the movement of the brush-strokes when glazing, although the surface cannot compare to paper and the colours usually don’t look the way they do after firing. Finally, there is the sanding off of the foot with a diamond block, making it ever so soft to the touch and no scratches on the table!
“She’s got velvet on the soles of her shoes”

Biography

Lisa Lorenz was born in a suburb west of Johannesburg in South Africa 1964. Both grandmothers were performers: one was an opera singer and music teacher, the other a successful actress in mainly amateur productions. Her mother is a poet and translator and a lover of art. Lisa became a concert singer and has been working at the opera in Zurich, Switzerland since 1994. On her homepage in German lisalorenz.ch you can read more about her recitals, compositions and voice coaching activities.

Finding the joys of handmade ceramics

Shortly after launching her CD Mondverse (English: Mouthing Verse) setting Afrikaans poetry to music in May 2014, Lisa and her husband visited her family in Betty’s Bay on the coast of South Africa. While making a day trip they stopped at a local potter’s shop. There she purchased some bowls and took them back with her to Switzerland. They started using them regularly in their household. It became apparent to Lisa that handmade dinnerware had a very different energy to machine-made mass ware. Her enthusiasm grew by the day and one summer morning she remarked to her husband:” I want to learn to do this and make dinnerware for us and other people – I want to share this special experience!” Her husband nodded and knew there was no use holding back this inspiration!

While learning to throw with clay on the wheel, Lisa yearned for a finer medium, one that could even become transparent; transparency being a spiritual, ethereal quality that she also seeks while singing and composing.

Porcelain – a passionate love affair

Lisa bought her first bag of raw porcelain and with the initial contact she knew that she had found her partner: this was who she wanted to work with! Through many trials and errors, she learned to be more understanding and trusting. This partnership was always taking her to her limits: cracking, slumping, crumbling and being too dry or too wet to work with!

Lisa’s challenge is to expand her artistic expression together with porcelain, assimilating their joint gifts, transforming and manifesting shapes and bringing them to their ultimate purpose of sharing joy!

Read more about Lisa’s COLLECTIONS

Please contact Lisa for enquiries and hear first-hand about events and specials.

Training

Hope to continue learning and growing even when I’m old and grey.

2017

June – Inauguration of her new studio

May – 5 intensive days of training with Zsuzsa Fuezesi in Gordola, Switzerland at the Keramik- und Töpferschule

March – showcased and sold her jewelry at the Craft Fair organized by the Zurich International Women’s Association

2016

December – Extraordinary Christmas Gifts: exhibition and sale at the Toepferei zur Linde in Rapperswil-Jona

October – Zsuzsa Fuezesi: Hand-Werk mit Porzellan, Gordula Tessin

September – Kick-off event organised by the Zurich International Women’s Association

June – Antoinette Badenhorst: Porcelain in Perfection, Basel Lehmhuus

May – Joined the Artists Entrepreneur LAB group lead by Catherine Orer

April – Mark McGuinness: Creative Pathfinder, e-course

March – Zsuzsa Fuezesi: Porcelain Hand-Building and its special shapes, Basel Lehmhuus

2015

December – Advent Open Studio mit Sabine Bärtschi: Toepferei zur Linde in Rapperswil-Jona

August – Antoinette Badenhorst:  Pinched Teapots, e-course

May – Antoinette Badenhorst: Wheel Thrown Porcelain Dinnerware, e-course

April – Antoinette Badenhorst: Understanding Porcelain, e-course

March – Laurin Staub: Throwing on the wheel, Bern Schule fuer Gestalltung

2014

September – Elisabeth Tuero: private lessons till May 2016 in throwing on the wheel