As fingertips glide across clay, the folds of time and traces of memory quietly emerge. The encounter with ceramic artist Enriqueta Cepeda felt like
stepping into a whispered poem.
Her creations — asymmetrical vessels — speak a profound language of femininity, nature, and inner order. Each pinch and polish is a silent dialogue with the earth; each piece, a tender response between soil and soul.

Your works are mostly created using hand-building techniques such as coil building and pinching. What special significance does this approach hold for you?

These old techniques give the freedom to shape completely freely and give life to the objects. They become asymmetrical but at the same time they must have a balance. I never take commissions because I want to find the balance and try not to achieve a specific measurement. If I were to measure and work that way, it loses a lot of the feeling in the expression. There is a big difference between hand-building and turning or casting where you usually strive for a more precise shape.

When creating, do you strive for a certain sense of “perfection,” or do you embrace the spontaneity of the process?

I don't strive for perfection, more for balance and I let the clay control how it turns out and make the most of what comes out. There's a saying, theperfect imperfect. The Japanese ‘wabi sabi’ concept. Sometimes something unexpected happens when I'm working and it can give rise to acompletely new shape that I like and will work on further.

Your pieces exude a primal, tranquil sense of strength. How do you hope the audience interacts with or experiences them?

I think that comes from the balance that hopefully is in the asymmetry.
I see my vessels as art objects, not utility objects, but you can of course put a flower in a vase sometimes if you want (I do make them hold water).
But if you are going to get a vase for flowers, I think you should have a discreet vase and let the flowers “speak”.
I want my ceramics to be pleasant both to the eye and to touch with your hands.

How do you perceive the natural characteristics of clay? In your creative process, how do you engage in a dialogue with the material?

The clay is so amazing because it changes its character during the drying process. When you have kneaded the clay and start working, the clay is soft, when it starts to dry, you have to wrap it in plastic so that the drying process goes slowly and you can do different things with the clay at different stages of the drying process. During a certain period it almost has properties like wood. I sometimes use tools that are intended for wood then. When the clay is leather hard, for example, I can reveal the chamotte on the surface to obtain a rough feeling or burnish with a stone to make the surface shiny. The soft, shiny parts I will polish with beeswax after firing. I also like to use clay in different colors, white, black, red and sandcolors instead of using glaze. The clay has no limitations if you work at the pace of the clay, it is your imagination that sets the limit.

Is the relationship between humans and clay reciprocal? In shaping the clay, do you feel that the material is also shaping you?

Yes, maybe. I have probably adjusted my design/language a bit due to the possibilities that clay offers. If I were to work in another material, the design language would perhaps be different, but I love the properties of clay and want to work with it.

When working with clay, do you ever feel a sense of connection—to history, to nature, or to something beyond the present moment?

Yes, I think it is impossible not to think that people have worked with clay and shaped objects they need in everyday life throughout history. When hand-building was used,before the pottery wheel was invented, it was women's job to create what they used to eat, cook and so on. Later, when the pottery wheel came into use, potters became more of a male profession. In Latin America, for example, the wheel did not come until the Spaniards in the 15th century. People have always made different decorations on the clay, first with geometric patterns, later with different types of decorations using engobes, colored with different chemical compounds or different types of clay. I have looked a lot at the different ways people have decorated their objects. Smoothed, carved, etc. Yes, I can feel a connection to potters throughout history. When I work with the shape, I usually get into flow, as they call it, when time and space do not really exist, you get so into the work.