Joëlle Swanet




All my work begins on the potter’s wheel. From this traditional gesture, I seek to distill forms that speak with minimal means: few materials, few firings, and a reduced environmental footprint. This economy of matter is not only ecological; it is also a path toward clarity.
Over time, my work has evolved from an exploration of what lies beneath appearances – the landscapes of our inner worlds – toward questions that touch the collective: social conditioning, the longing for freedom, and today, the fragility of life itself. My most recent pieces echo both the anxiety and the hope that accompany our uncertain times. Their light, almost eroded presence reflects the tension between disappearance and persistence : a meditation on resilience.
Each form is born from the wheel, yet escapes its symmetry. The gesture of throwing becomes an act of resistance against the idea of control. The resulting objects are not vessels for function, but for meaning: fragile architectures of clay that suggest what might vanish, or begin again.
In parallel, I pursue scientific research on ceramic surfaces truly safe for food contact, based on laboratory analyses. This inquiry connects the poetic and the empirical, the studio and the laboratory, both animated by the same ethical question: how can creation engage with matter responsibly?
Through simplicity of form and restraint of process, my ceramics attempt to offer a space for reflection – on our relationship with the world, and on the freedom that arises when we change the way we look at it.