Hana Karim

Handmade Ceramics from Ljubljana

Hana Karim grew up between painting studios and pottery wheels in Slovenia, where her parents encouraged her to see that ceramics could be a business, a passion and a form of artistic expression. Today, Karim is working to shift the perception of ceramic-making, by coaxing the resurgence of pottery as a medium for creative expression. Finding inspiration in the words and creativity of her mother, Karim first spent ten years crafting ceramic jewellery before moving onto homeware.

This sense of progression felt natural, as Karim uses jewellery-making techniques as a way of giving definition to the bowls, cups and plates of her homeware line. It is these details, and her unparalleled manipulation of clay stone that makes her work immediately recognizable. Tones of turquoise seep through, a palette that is influenced by Karim’s father and his Iraqi Kurdistan heritage. The artist, describes the calming effect of the ocean-like tincture, as it mystically oscillates between green and blue hues, quietly harboring a sense of nostalgia for her childhood. With one look, it becomes clear that Karim’s work and creative process finds conception in the relationship she has with her parents.

“Sometimes misshapen plates speak more to me,” Karim explains, and she goes on to attribute her stylistic fluidity to a strong emotional connection with her surroundings, “even the recent change in seasons inspired me to create a collection of bowls in all shades of grey.”