Thank you for visiting my space.
I'm Renata Catena, from Brazil, and I have a deep connection with clay and the stories it carries.
Ceramics came into my life at an important moment and slowly became a path.
Today I continue creating with my hands, in my own rhythm and with an open heart.
Each piece teaches me something.
I’m grateful to be able to share a small part of this journey with you.
I started working with ceramics in September 2024. Since then, I have shaped more than 200 pieces, one by one, learning at each step.
Ceramics came into my life at a moment when I needed to slow down. I began as someone looking for a moment for myself, without rush, just to breathe. And it gradually became part of my routine and my way of living.
Deep Earth
Renata Catena – handmade ceramics
I am still at the beginning of my path in ceramics, but I have already realized that it transforms me more than I transform the clay.
This collection was born from a process that was more intuitive than technical. I named it Deep Earth because that was exactly the feeling I had while making these pieces: the desire to go deeper, to create something with layers, texture, and presence.
Two vases. Two paths.
One shows the marks of the hand. The other keeps silence on its surface.
Both pieces were made in stoneware and fired at 1250 °C. One received a lighter and rougher finish, allowing the gesture of the hand-building process to remain visible. The other is dark, matte, and more restrained.
They are part of the collection Gesture and Silence.
While one piece reveals the movement of the hand, the other holds stillness. The two exist in balance.
I just saw the list of pre-selected names for the 55th Koguei Art Exhibition, announced by Bunkyo. This time, my name is not among them.
There were 442 works submitted in the pre-selection stage, a number that shows the strength of ceramics today.
I wish the best to everyone who moves forward to the next stage. The delivery of the works will take place on July 17 and 18. The final selection will happen on July 19, and the results with the awarded works will be announced on July 28. The exhibition will be open to the public from October 5 to October 19, 2025.
Before shaping my first large piece, I had already made more than 200 small ones. Cups, small plates, ornaments. Pieces made slowly, one by one, learning along the way.
I keep them all with care. They are part of my beginning.
It was in the studio of my teacher, Magali Ercolin, that something changed.
One day she showed me a book that was there among the materials, almost as if it had been waiting to be found.
The book is called:
「手びねりでつくる食の器」
(Tableware made with hand-building techniques)
Inspired by the Japanese coil-building technique, this vase was built by hand, layer by layer.
The idea came up in the studio of my teacher, Magali Ercolin. One day she showed me a book written entirely in Japanese. I could not understand a single word, but I was captivated by the images.
The book showed ceramics from the Jōmon period, an ancestral Japanese style that goes back more than 10,000 years. The pieces had free, intertwined forms, almost alive.
May handicrafts be increasingly valued in Brazil—for all that they represent: history, culture, and identity.
I spent Sunday at the 19th Handicraft Fair at Ibirapuera, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with my mother, Elizabeth, and my aunt Silvia. We visited stand by stand, talked to many exhibitors, and I left with my head full of ideas and my heart full.
My work began at a moment when I was looking for silence. I found it in clay.
My name is Renata Catena and I am still at the beginning of my journey in ceramics. I have been learning little by little, with my hands and with time, through attempts, mistakes, and small successes that keep me encouraged.
I come from a very busy life. I run businesses and social projects, but it was in ceramics that I found a different place. A slower rhythm. A more present kind of time.
