I’m Ingrid. Dutch and at the moment spending most of my life in Spain. I build totems and wall sculptures from clay. One piece at a time, the way you rebuild or reshape your life. Bit by bit, until it stands on its own. Strong and full courage. That’s the meaning of the totems I build.
The object
Every totem begins as separate pieces, soft formed, shaped by hand till it has the right edges. And they all become one sculpture. Nothing thrown on a wheel, no moulds used. Everything built by hand. The same way you built anything that has to last: slowly and in part. The totems represent that.
The maker
I’ve puzzled my life like anybody else. Sometimes you have to change something. and there where times I was thrown under the bus. But each time you build back. Piece by piece, slowly as a puzzle. That’s how I make my ceramics as well.
My work is rooted in the feeling of belonging. Totems have historically marked identity, ancestry and tribe. My sculptures explore that same longing for connection, home and a sense of place.
Because what is home, really? And can an object help us feel it?
Perhaps that’s why I make these pieces. To mark where we are, where we’ve been, and the things we carry with us.
How it’s made
Handbuilt in Andalusia, from clay, water, fire and time. No two pieces come out the same, the cracks, the colorshifts, the small imperfections stay. Proof that it was made by hand.
My answer to today’s time.
Photo Banner: Casa Decor: Aia Studio, Tarimatec, Photo: Amador Toril
Photo middle: Casa Decor 2026, Iris Ceramica, Raul Martin, Amador Toril
Credits photo right above: Casa Decor, Ramonsoler, Design: Carmen Barasona. Photo by Nacho Uribesalazar
