The sunripe tomato you bite on a warm summer day, the cutsie hearts you draw in the margin of your high school notebook or the daisy petals you tear to find out if he loves you, with her sunny handmade L'Atelier Onze ceramics, Carine Dakak invites the magic of our memories into our homes.
It all starts with some clay that you mold ‘like playdoh,’ which the artist chooses to do with her bare hands, without any wheel. The work takes more time, is more physically demanding, ‘but with your hands you can do any shape.’ A bowl with scalloped edges, a folded vase, a creased platter, pretty little pieces take shape under her fingers, destined to brighten up our homes. Her favourite part is adding color to each piece; checkered, dotted, with stars, smiley faces, protective eyes or delicious fresh fruits, a happy sunny world in bright hues of orange, red, pink or blue, comes to life with her paint brush. Carine just draws what comes to mind in the moment, and with their touch of childhood nostalgia, and beautiful finely drawn details, her pieces are infused with a signature joyful style. ‘The tomatoes’ she tells us ‘were on my Pinterest board and that’s how I started drawing them,’ and she kept them because they are emblematic of the generosity of a Lebanese table. Between creating a shape and applying the final touch of paint, comes a tedious process. First the piece must dry for ten to fifteen days before placing it in the kiln (the oven), a ‘stressful time, where the piece could crack or dry badly,’ then you sand it to polish further, wash it, apply a first layer of paint, and it’s back in the oven for ten to twelve hours before dressing up in vibrant colors and patterns. A piece takes about a month to be ready, and at any moment the artist will have several pieces in the making.
We asked Carine if she had any new projects in the works, and just like her ceramics bustling with joyful energy, her brand L’Atelier Onze is blooming in several directions; from an upcoming handcrafted table pieces exhibit with The Fig Tree in Paris, to a project with Fabriq Textile Studio, another one with a kids clothing boutique, starting to conceive a selection of purely artistic pieces for the home, and many more projects to come. The artist first started ceramics in 2019, while taking a class, but she quickly decided to set off on her own, buying an oven, then another, and setting up her atelier. She was managing a pizzeria at the time, and first placed her pieces in the restaurant, where she began to receive orders for her ceramics. She recalls having little time left after her work hours, and it would take her a few weeks to fulfill an order, she was surprised that her clients did not mind waiting. Over time she decided to change the way she works, designing her own pieces that she then puts on display, mainly on her Instagram page, but also sometimes in a boutique. Last year, she decided to go full swing into her L’Atelier Onze venture, and it turned out to be the right call for her. With orders coming in, Carine now dedicates her days to working on her ceramics, spending about seven hours a day in the atelier, and appreciates so much ‘loving what I do for a living.’ Her calling was always waiting for her, from the sweet drawings in her primary school notebooks, that she recently uncovered, to the times she wanted to sell her kilns because of the toll of the Lebanese crisis and lack of electricity, to one year ago when some doors closed in front of her, only to open a beautiful artistic path paved with orange trees, rays of sun, and pretty flowers.
