Ceramic Futures is a hands-on research project by Georgia Xypolia and Giorgos Xanthopoulos, operating between Amsterdam, NL and Athens, GR. Clay has long been humanity’s didactic medium; not only containing, but preserving histories, documenting daily rituals and collective struggles across cultures and time. Expanding on this role, Ceramic Futures explores clay as a designer’s tool for critical inquiry, by bridging ancient Greek ceramic traditions with speculative approaches to imagining spatial futures. We aim to develop a series of processes that merge intuitive clay making with visual modes of research, design and visioning, touching on topics of ecology, politics and spatial justice.
Georgia Xypolia is an architect and designer (University of Patras & TU Delft) with a strong interest in material culture, public space, and collective practices. She currently works at the Municipality of Amsterdam on projects situated between urban planning and the design of public space. Alongside this, she explores clay and is engaged with the collective pottery studio Mango in a pot in Amsterdam, where she teaches wheel-throwing and maintains a personal making practice, treating the studio as a space for both experimentation and shared learning. Her clay work focuses on form exploration and bridging craftsmanship with critical making. She often works with reclaimed clay and minimal surface treatments, guided by a sensitivity to tactility and repetition.
Contact
georgiaxyp@gmail.com
(+31)616328224
Giorgos Xanthopoulos is an architect, urban planner, and researcher, with studies in Architecture (University of Patras) and Urban Design (TU Delft). He is interested in the role of spatial visions in post-growth planning and in participatory visioning practices. He has written about the role of the bioregional approach in spatial planning, exploring the potential for reorganizing spatial governance based on ecological, geomorphological, and social particularities. Currently, he is experimenting with the combination of storytelling and clay practices as tools for critical reflection and collective expression on distant spatial futures. His goal is to develop methods that connect design with social imagination, contributing to the transition toward more just and inclusive forms of collective life.
Contact
gxanthopoulos@outlook.com
https://giorgosxanthopoulos.gr/
(+30)6946976015
Ceramic Futures Collective is registered with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce under the number 96843292.