Andrea Tachelet’s ceramic practice occupies a solid stance within contemporary art’s renewed engagement with ceramics as a medium of aesthetic and conceptual significance. Her wheel-thrown sculptural works in stoneware and porcelain transcend conventional boundaries between functional design and fine art, positioning ceramics as a site where material knowledge, cultural memory, and contemporary artistic inquiry converge.
Over the years Tachelet established a distinct voice in sculptural ceramics by combining different clays on the wheel and developing a language of gestural forms. At the core of her practice is material knowledge that is constantly consolidated over time—an embodied understanding of clay and porcelain’s properties, behaviours, and possibilities. This knowledge resides in Tachelet’s trained tactile memory and instinctive responses to the material’s potential and limitations—a substance that guides and constrains the artistic process, requiring the artist to read material signals and respond to the former’s plastic potential.
The wheel-throwing process add a layer of material literacy to Tachelet’s work. Centring clay and shaping out forms are actions that require precise coordination between the hands, the eyes and the rotating clay. Tachelet’s choice to work in both stoneware and porcelain demonstrates a thorough understanding of both materials—stoneware being robust and forgiving, while porcelain tending to be more challenging yet capable of creating delicate paper-thin walls. Her work is witness of her fascination with the movement of materials, both on the wheel and through the glazing and firing process, whereby surface and form become her canvas in space.
Tachelet’s latest work exhibited in this solo show draws significant influence from Chinese painting and Daoist philosophy, giving her work a minimalist aesthetic, focusing on the essence of the artefact rather than the object itself, a moment captured in its marks of making. Strong value is given to empty space; the hollow surrounded by material, where the value for what exists lies in the nothingness it surrounds. Tachelet’s practice is driven by her concern with the sensorial experience evoked by the physical presence of her work. Her glazes are characterised by harmonious colour schemes and subtle tonal gradations that witness the artist’s high sensitivity to surface treatment via painterly atmospheric effects.
The exhibited artefacts function as objects of ritual that make space for contemplation, embodying values of patience and craftsmanship, which contrast with contemporary culture’s speed and disposability. This ritual is both aesthetic and philosophical: as the viewer is drawn to look carefully, appreciate material qualities, and honour the time and skill embedded in these handmade objects.
Tachelet’s prior studies in anthropology and archaeology inform her artistic and conceptual frameworks. Cultural curiosity and material layering are at the core of Tachelet’s exploration of traces, memories and pasts through a reflective personal practice. In this sense, when embarking on her master’s degree in Cardiff, the artist had already developed a thorough understanding of how objects function within social contexts, how materials carry meaning, and how design practices embody cultural values.
In light of this, Tachelet’s practice does not disregard clay’s dual existence in industrial and artistic contexts. On the contrary, it sheds a light on industrial ceramics as essential to countless technologies, whilst asserting the continuing value of embodied skill and knowledge residing in the artist’s hands. In an era of increasing digitisation, Tachelet’s wheel-thrown forms bear the timeless traces of the handmade, offering an authenticity and materiality that still resonate in the digital age.
Tachelet’s work demonstrates that sculptural ceramics occupy a vital position in contemporary art, offering unique possibilities to explore material knowledge, cultural memory, and the social significance of making. The apparent tension between function and sculpture, informed by Tachelet’s anthropological understanding and minimal aesthetics, create work that pairs traditional techniques and contemporary concerns, positioning ceramics as an inexhaustible site of artistic and philosophical inquiry.
Andrea Tachelet’s first solo show, In Hindsight opened its doors to the public from 21 November through the 21 December 2025.
Jo Borg Gallery 