A brand that believes that exchanges make it possible to know itself more deeply and to build a space of more empathy with the other - the creation and inspiration that arise from these moments in which something or something is shared. Maybe that's what conquered me when I first learned about her work. A brand that, like time, seeks to be in constant motion.
I met Raíssa de Britto through Santiago Fernandes, a friend who is her brother. On our first date, I was surprised when I discovered that we have the same astrological sign and ascendant - anyone who knows me knows how passionate I am about astrology. It wasn't long before the connection was established. In the middle of the pandemic, I had the honor of being able to collaborate as a model on an editorial she was producing for her brand, Studio AR.
Graduated in audiovisual with an emphasis on Art Direction from the International Film Academy and a bachelor's degree in Visual Arts, Painting, Engraving and Sculpture from the Centro Universitário Belas Artes de São Paulo, the artist has worked at various cultural institutions such as Japan House and the São Paulo Institute of Contemporary Art. And it wasn't long before Raíssa realized that her professional career would be much more aligned with her purpose if she were able to exercise something in her work that she carries inside her since she understands herself as a person: creativity.
Studio AR was born from the authorial work of the multidisciplinary artist, seeking to be in constant motion, creating from different supports and materialities. Raíssa believes that artistic practice can trigger ideas and exchanges with others.
“The starting point of the brand lies in the exchange and in the experiences that are created based on them. The exchange between body and space. The exchange with the materiality that is being worked on. The exchange with the people you meet along the way,” Raíssa points out.
A brand that believes that exchanges make it possible to know itself more deeply and to build a space of more empathy with the other - the creation and inspiration that arise from these moments in which something or something is shared. Maybe that's what conquered me when I first learned about her work. A brand that, like time, seeks to be in constant motion.
Raíssa's connection with clay is transcendent. She says that she has spent ten to twelve hours in her studio, present, involved in contact with the raw material. The artist also points out that entrepreneurship within this segment was not always her first idea. Raissa says that the difficulty of a young entrepreneur who wants to develop a brand to make a living from his artistic creations is not easy, especially in a country like Brazil where art is (still) considered bourgeois. Today Studio AR works developing home&decor products such as vases, fruit bowls, plates, cups and even jewelry holders in experimental ceramics, which are sold on the brand's e-commerce and on platforms such as Boobam, in addition to following a busy schedule of courses for those who want to learn more about this ancient technique.
And thinking about it, there could be no other way for the artist to be able to represent this other than the technique of constructing ceramic pieces. “I always say that ceramics chose me and not the other way around. At all times I understood myself as an artistic and creative person, this area has always aroused interest in me. Unfortunately, because I grew up in a very small city, it was strange to tell the people around me that I would like to study the arts and that's why at first I ended up choosing to study cinema”. She continues, “my first contact with ceramics was during the Visual Arts course at the Fine Arts. We are introduced to many different artistic languages in a course like this, so I had the opportunity to experiment and create works with different forms and materialities until I found one that fit perfectly”.
Regarding the creative process and production of the pieces, Raíssa says that her greatest inspiration comes from the elements of nature. “I've always liked to search for shapes, textures, and even understand the extent of our body in those spaces. We use a lot of organic forms in our work, raw and unglazed clay to be able to have a creative dialogue with things present in this environment”. From another perspective, the ceramist also says that her work is a balance between making a piece designed from the beginning or letting the clay flow for hours to create something unusual according to the feelings that arise during its development. “This work is a great experimentation and ceramics allow us to do this, mainly because it is unpredictable and varies according to external effects, such as the amount of enamel or water and oven temperature. From the moment we put it on the fire, we lose control of what can happen - and that's what fascinates me the most - knowing that when we remove the piece, we will find something completely unique” and ends by saying that she likes it even when she finds small cracks in the pieces. “Clay taught me to let go of that perfectionism and understand that the perfect doesn't exist.”
Raíssa recently decided to move to Canada with her husband in search of new personal and professional experiences. When I asked what the brand's position would be in terms of new technologies, she didn't hesitate to answer with a bit of irony that worries about “what will be the place of ceramics in the metaverse”. For her, something that has been able to accompany human history for as long as this art will surely be able to find a place in the new technological world. And this story about the brand in Complete Magazine is proof of that.
When I invited Raíssa to participate in an interview for our Creatives section, where we tell stories of people who are developing something innovative and working thinking about new realities, she accepted without question. The moment I mentioned that we were going to produce a product from the brand with augmented reality so that people could view all of her incredible work in their own home, Raíssa was even happier. The role that the brand plays in people's lives is essential, especially when we think historically about the entire journey that ceramics took to get here.
“I am a big believer in new technologies and I even see ceramics as a place to escape from their excess, as a space where people can reconnect with the natural processes of their own lives, where they can return to the real. As incredible as it may seem, I feel that people are looking for ceramics to relax. I myself have many IT students, who spend a large part of the day in front of the computer developing programs and go to the workshops we designed to recharge doing manual and creative things”.
Understanding the phases and processes of life is essential to be able to learn to dance according to the symphony. And that's one thing that Studio AR is able to do in the best way - to reinvent new visualization possibilities and formats for two ancient things: time and ceramics.
