'The only thing I can think about is yellow'

摘要

Marie Torbensdatter Hermann is a ceramic multi-tasker. She combines, with an artful efficiency and winning good humour, the demanding work of professional potter with the role of studio manager for Edmund de Waal. In these twin roles - her work linked as well as separated - she needs to find the resources of impeccable organisation, crisp time management, with an eye set both to the task in hand as well as the long term career view. Producing original ceramic work in these circumstances calls for creativity leavened with determination. Objectivity and subjectivity both have their rightful place in the daily routine. Determination is embedded in her character. Hermann's first memorable exposure to clay came early - a workshop session at school in her native Denmark at the age of ten. She continued to be engaged with the material and, seeking more effective guidance after graduation directly contacted Bodil and Richard Manz in their workshop and studio outside Copenhagen. It was a meeting that motivated Hermann to pursue a career working with clay. She especially admired Richard Manz's designs for industry, finding a creative link in the journey from design through to the industrial process of manufacture itself. This narrative of work was already familiar to Hermann. Her parents (both architects) espoused a design consciousness that linked design, craft and architecture without undue strain or pretensions. Following graduation from her ceramic degree at the University of Westminster in 2003, with a characteristic bravado she secured a three month period of employment in Edmund de Waal's studio having been impressed by his porcelain 'ceramic room' installation at the Geffrye Museum (2002-3). She has remained there to this day.