In a relatively short amount of time, French artist Léa Munsch has asserted herself as one of ceramic’s most compelling voices. In 2017, alongside three other Paris-based ceramicists, Munsch helped found the ceramics collective, Gangster Bastille. Then, in 2018, she traded Paris for Lorraine, and a new studio in a former factory that’s perched on a river in a forest (you can listen to a ‘Soundscape’ recording of her walk through the woods to the studio over on Soundcloud). There, she has been particularly called to draw inspiration from nature — producing unglazed stoneware pieces that preserve the texture, imperfections, and color of her raw materials. “Clay [is] an open field of possibilities,” Munsch writes, and in her most recent works, we see both instinct and intent at play. Sometimes, Munsch makes abstract sculptural forms that are resolutely “use-less.” Other times, these forms might become an exceedingly beautiful sconce (like the terracotta ones she contributed to the Menorca Experimental). One gets the feeling that Munsch wisely lets her materials reveal their preferred state along the way. Thanks to a beautiful series of photos created with Paris-based image-making duo AB/CB, formed by Côme de Bouchony and Anaïs Barelli, we’re able to explore the full range of their embodiment.

PHOTOS BY AB/CB