Brutal Ceramics: Ceramics in Its Pure Form

A black stoneware mug, a cobalt blue vase, a two-tone stone and earthenware plate… The range offered by Estelle at Brutal Ceramics is as eclectic and sharp as the creator of the online shop is passionate about craftsmanship.

A trained architect, Estelle made the decision in 2018 to leave her job at a large agency and make the leap into selling ceramic tableware and decorative objects, and thus Brutal Ceramics was born.

Great freedom for artisans

‘Brutal is an online shop selling ceramic objects that I’ve selected, all made by hand and with a sustainable production logic’, the young woman explains. ‘I release four collections a year to give myself the time to make the best choice when it comes to the artisans I’m going to work with, and the ceramics I’m going to sell on the website.’

During the creation stage for the pieces that will appear in the shop, Estelle sometimes gives the artisans free rein. ‘I give them the freedom to create their piece as they want it to be, depending on their personality. The aim is for Brutal to be a laboratory of sorts.’

Natural, unpolished, and metallised materials

For the first collection, launched in autumn 2018, Estelle offered pieces exclusively from French and Japanese artisans, as she has a special relationship with Japan. ‘I went there for the first time when I was still at architecture school, where we were made aware of Japanese philosophy and the fundamentals of the architecture of space’, she recalls. ‘Then I went back to Japan for a holiday in 2015, before taking the leap and getting a working holiday visa in 2016, which meant that I could immerse myself in Japanese culture and learn more about its aesthetics and also the craftsmanship. In a way, Brutal is the continuation of that.’

The collections that followed saw the arrival of ceramics from Spain, England, Germany, and Greece, but all with the same requirement from Estelle: to offer products different from those that consumers are used to seeing on the shelves of tableware shops. ‘I chose a clear editorial line, with natural pieces and strong, unpolished or almost metallised enamel.’

The shop’s offering is sophisticated, and this is made possible by the curation work that Estelle undertakes almost every day, scouring the Internet, notably Pinterest and Instagram, for objects and artisans that could join her network. Some ceramists even contact her directly to ask if their products can be sold through her online shop.

In autumn 2019, Brutal celebrated its first birthday and sold pieces in a pop-up shop on Paris’s Rue de Paradis on 6th and 7th September.

Estelle’s latest curations for Brutal Ceramics can be found on its website.