Alev Ebüzziya Siesbye

‘I couldn’t do what I do if I had stayed in Istanbul or if I had been born in Denmark and lived here all my life. Vive le mélange des cultures!’
– Alev Ebüzziya Siesbye

In her Paris studio the Turkish-born Danish ceramicist Alev Ebüzziya Siesbye has created a ceramic series that is at once organic and stringent. Stringency is a signature quality for the craft maker, who ever since her debut has drawn inspiration from the cultures of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt and Anatolia. When she moved to Copenhagen in 1963 she discovered a connection with the Danish modernist practice and combined her own expression with Scandinavian technique.

Over the years, Alev Ebüzziya Siesbye has continued to refine her highly personal variations on the basic bowl shape in material manifestations of continuity that fuse different cultures as well as past and present in meticulously perfected form.

The aesthetic design and the carefully selected glaze colours are core aspects of Alev Ebüzziya Siesbye’s work, and for years she has sparked fascination with nearly floating bowl shapes in colours that cause us to dream of the Mediterranean.

The new Alev line comprises four series in faience and stoneware: a vase, a low bowl and a lidded jar, all in two sizes, as well as a second vase or handleless cup in three sizes. The smooth surfaces are coated in a matt monochrome glaze in a variety of colours.

Utilitarian objects intended for everyday use but also works of art in their own right, balanced on a barely visible base that raises the object slightly above the surface in a gravity-defying pose.

Naming the series Alev was an obvious way to celebrate the award-winning craft maker – a prominent master of the ceramic vessel, who is represented in museums all over the world.