Words By Allegra Salvadori

In a world seeking the tactile and the timeless, ceramics have transcended their utilitarian origins to emerge as a language of art—an intimate dialogue between hand, material, and form. Today, four contemporary ceramicists—Zein Daouk, Saraï Delfendahl, Sybil Layous, and Kartini Thomas—are reshaping this ancient craft, each weaving her own narrative through clay.

For Beirut-based architect and ceramicist Zein Daouk, clay began as a sanctuary. What started in 1999 as a search for balance soon evolved into The Third Kingdom, a collection of biomorphic sculptures inspired by fungi. These pieces, fluid yet structured, hum with a life of their own, reconnecting us to the earth’s untamed beauty.

Saraï Delfendahl channels what she calls “expressionist naivety” into creatures that blur the lines between human, animal, and plant. Her process is instinctive, a direct current from hand to clay. “There’s no planning,” she says. “Humor, surprise, and energy simply flow into the work,” resulting in sculptures that feel alive, carrying both myth and playfulness.

For Sybil Layous, clay offered the intimacy that fashion could not. Trading screens for hand-building techniques, she crafts pieces that balance control and spontaneity. Her forms, often biomorphic, are shaped with light and shadow in mind, designed to transform domestic spaces into places of quiet connection and enduring beauty.

Drawing from biology and folklore, Kartini Thomas turns microscopic worlds into pastel-hued, modular sculptures. Playful yet thought-provoking, her work invites viewers to interact, to explore the line between the unsettling and the endearing. “Focusing on process over perfection is a kind of generosity,” she reflects, embracing the dialogue between maker, material, and observer.

Together, these artists prove that ceramics, as old as civilization itself, remains a living, evolving art form—one that asks to be touched, contemplated, and cherished.