Forma

Forma takes its name from the Latin word for shape, mould, or appearance—rooted in both the physical act of making and the philosophical idea of form itself. It speaks to the essence of this series: a study of ceramics shaped not by hand, but by language and code, where the universal act of shaping clay is translated through the lens of artificial intelligence. At its core are two enduring ceramic traditions: Shino and Raku. Each glaze tells a story of fire and alchemy—fiery oranges, smoky greys, deep crackles, and luminous metallic flashes—anchored by familiar forms and pushed into sculptural abstraction. Beginning with functional vessels, the series charts a journey from utility to expression: objects that are useful, then altered until they transcend function altogether. Each image is a meditation on materiality and transformation, held in perfect stillness yet alive with the illusion of weight, texture, and substance.

At the heart of Forma is a question: When is a vase not a vase? This series explores the tension between beauty and usefulness, echoing William Morris’s famous dictum: “Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” The objects also evoke wabi-sabi, the Japanese philosophy that embraces the beauty of imperfection, transience, and simplicity. Here, AI becomes a kind of kiln—a crucible where words are fired into form. The resulting synthographs are not photographs of real ceramics, yet they hold the same illusion of reality: the pooled glazes, the jagged edges, finger and tool marks on display. Each image invites the viewer to linger at the threshold between what is seen and what is believed, where digital precision masquerades as handcrafted imperfection.

Forma belongs to a lineage of works that question the boundaries between craft, image, and simulation. While rooted in the history of ceramics, it is also a study of AI’s ability to mimic physical processes and textures with uncanny fidelity. What emerges is a series of objects that could exist—each one plausible, tactile, seductive—but whose reality resides solely in pixels and imagination. Like all good ceramics, these works celebrate transformation: earth shaped by fire. But here, words become images, and vision becomes belief. In the space between reality and illusion, Forma offers its own quiet provocation: not just what do we see? but what do we trust to be real?