The Contemporary Tableware Collection: Meet Victoria from Victoria Finala
22/09/2021
She brews coffee every morning and she wakes up with the joy of entering the workshop and trying something new. She likes to experiment, to create new colors, new shapes, new textures. The objects she creates convey very well the game of experiment, they talk about exploring techniques, materials. She creates organic shaped dinnerware, unique decorative beauty combined with functionality. She is Victoria and her business caries the name of her husband’s endearment: Victoria Finală.
Victoria left Chișinău for Bucharest, more precisely for the Nicolae Tonitza High School of Fine Arts. Next, she attended the National University of Arts, a master’s degree in painting. The passion for painting has deep roots in her heart, she paints since she was five. In 2012, together with her husband Florin bought a field in Gurbăneşti (Călăraşi), where they launched CAP Gurbăneşti, a business with tomatoes.
Victoria’s story as a ceramic artist
Then, she started to produce pots for her own flower collection in her free time. From here to a ceramic brand, was only a step away. We wanted to know more about the process behind our artisanal coffee cups, plates, vases or bowls and we paid her a visit to the studio.
How does your story in the world of ceramic design begun?
My story starts with my passion for flowers, especially houseplants. And by the time I was collecting plants, I wanted them to have beautiful pots. The plastic ones were not that good looking and I thought… How about making some? So I started to study what materials are suitable for them and I gave it a try with hypertufa – a cement aggregate, peat and rock called perlite. It grew on me, I started to like making the pots.
Then I got a small oven and I started making cups, vases and plates. I posted on social media and people were very excited about my work. I started to get requests and I have been doing this for more than 3 years.
Handmade products have an upward trend in recent years and somehow, a handmade cup tells the story of the ceramist who made it. What is the story you want the objects made by you to tell?
I like to experiment. I like to create new colors, new shapes, new textures. So the objects I create convey very well the game of experiment, they talk about exploring techniques, materials. At the same time, they are alive, they have functionality. People tell me that’s what my pottery brings them joy and beauty to their house. Using more artistic dishes, with organic shapes and colors, you bring art to your home.
Meron Artisanal Coffee Cups: The Concept behind
Meron cups are your signature. How did you come up with the current design of this series?
The sauce cups were the starting point in our collaboration. Natural, round, irregular shape. We designed the cups together, black and white, simple, clean. It gives coffee a good canvas & contrast.
What is the latest design-wise discovery you made?
There are no mistakes in this work with the clay. If you experminet enough with it, even what you taught was at first a mistake becomes a beautiful piece that you can be proud of. Once, I started designing some vases. I did let some unfinished vases at the studio and when I came back to them, it was hard for my to bring the vases to their final form. So instead, I turned them into gorgeous salad bowls. I think I wouldn’t have made it otherwise.
The biggest misconception about product design that you have encountered:
That they are more fragile than the dishes in the store (FYI, the industrial ones or the ones that you can buy in bulk from a store are burned at lower temperatures) are precious and they are reluctant to use them every day. Or that they are done quickly.
The crafted products take time, patience and hard work, they are a story of the hands that made them – and it’s a true joy to own a unique piece.
Victoria’s one sentence answers
When you felt most appreciated: Absolutely every time someone tells me that he uses my dishes every day and that I bring him/her great joy.
What would you like to see more in the industry: More opportunities for beginers to learnIC from experienced potters.
What inspires you: The vegetable world, the seasons, the sun, the material, the glaze, the color of the tiles, the possibilities it gives me.
Challenges? Large dishes that dry very slowly and tend to crack – I have not yet found the formula for them to crack.
In terms of evolution, how do you see your pottery: My dishes were nice at first, but it was obvious that I was at the beginning, so, in time, I improved my technique and now I know how to avoid resistance problems or flaws.
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Victoria Finală is one of the manufacturers we chose to work with for The Contemporary Tableware, the collection of modern, yet minimal tableware crafted by Romanian based artisans. Bringing together ceramics, wood and natural table textiles, this collection mixes urban elegance and contemporary style. You can find & shop the work of Romanian manufacturers exposed through The Contemporary Tableware at Meron Platinia.