STORY BY MAHMOOD FAZAL, PHOTOS BY CHRIS TURNER

A venus fly trap vase. A mug with boobs. A pot with legs. Tania Green is a local ceramicist who toys with the cycle of clay making. “I think the thing with ceramics is that it happens in cycles,” she asserts. “You have your initial baking cycle. Then you've got to glaze everything. Then fire everything. Then get everything home. And sand everything. It’s just a cycle.”

Tania considers her words carefully, speaking in a thoughtful rhythm. “I am in this very blessed position, being able to work when I want,” says Tania. “So I try not to force it. I only do it when I feel like it. When the spirit moves me.”

Tania was born in Bream Bay, an hour north of Auckland in New Zealand. “My family are Croatian, they all came over to New Zealand to escape the war,” explains Tania. “They were gum diggers in Northland, they would dig Kauri gum out of the swamp and it was sent all over the world to be used as a glueing agent.”

“I had a pretty terrible childhood in New Zealand and unfortunately had to leave school quite early. I worked in hospitality for years. Thought I'd become a chef.” When the culinary world didn’t work in Tania’s favour, she turned to advertising. Tania laughs, “and I became quite murderous.”

When Tania moved to Melbourne, she met a silversmith named Laurie Miller. “I think he's the only sculptor in Australia that sculpts with Jade. He’s also a painter and silversmith.”

Laurie taught Tania a crucial lesson. “When you're just making something out of nothing, you realise you don't need to just buy something. If you want something, you can work out how it's made and make it yourself.” Tania pauses. “There's something special about objects made by hand. Something that lasts forever. And then when I had kids, it became a very difficult thing to do, working with fire and chemicals.”

Ten years ago Tania moved to Daylesford. We wanted to build a house from straw bales - an eco house. The moment I got here I just said, ‘this is where I want to live’. I just knew that this was where I wanted to live. It’s an accepting, open, creative sort of community. I didn't want to live in a place where people were closed minded,” says Tania. “But I think it was just an energy thing. It just felt like the right place. I don't know if that's got something to do with the mineral water flowing into the ground or, you know, some kind of energetic thing.”

Under the tutelage of Minna Graham, Tania was invited to experiment with clay making. “I just completely fell in love with it. I love gardening. I love earthy things. I love getting my hands dirty.” Today, Tania’s company Imagine Lovely Ceramics offers a handmade range of ceramic pieces that add a splash of wabi-sabi art to any interior.

“My style is much more loose, uneven and natural looking. That’s wabi-sabi. I like knowing that it’s handmade. That it’s ceramic and really slow art. It takes time and you just have to be patient and slow down. And a lot of stuff doesn't work out. And you just have to let it go. And it's been really good for me to learn that. Acceptance. Accepting that it is what it is and letting it go.”

Tania describes the feeling of clay making as tactile. “It's much more sort of fluid. And you really can just take a lump of dirt and turn it into absolutely anything, explains Tania. “I have people tell me that it makes a huge difference to their day...having this handmade cup, with character, that they get to have their tea from every morning.”

Imagine Lovely Ceramics

www.imaginelovelyceramics.bigcartel.com