I started making São Roque tumblers and mugs to embody the balance of nature and civilization on the Azores Islands. Pico Island, in particular, is visually stunning, with black lava stone houses and churches covered with white plaster, black cows grazing in bright green pastures surrounded by black lava stone walls, the bright blue sky peeking between Atlantic Ocean storm clouds. São Roque is the small village that Vovó’s family came from. These pieces are thrown on the wheel and manipulated using a wooden rib to mark both the four directions of the Azorean diaspora and the four elements used in ceramics: earth, water, air and fire. These pieces use commercial clays and studio-mixed glazes. They are mostly fired in an electric kiln, though there are a few pieces that were fired in a wood kiln.

* São Roque is a village on Pico Island, which is one of the Azores Islands. The Azores are an archipelago of nine islands sitting 1400 km to the west of Portugal.

**all pieces are for sale in my Lisbon store and studio.