it’s mud witch
a new form of witch-craft
Published On: 02/06/2022
Meet the artist behind the curvy, bendy, hand-made ceramic brand Mud Witch – Viviana Matsuda.
viviana Matsuda in their studio - image courtesy of sunset.com
Viviana Matsuda is a San Francisco-based, Mexican-Japanese, queer artist, using their artistic practise to celebrate body positivity and the LGBTQIA+ community.
Matsuda took up ceramics later in life as a way to work through the grief of losing their father, who was also a ceramic artist. After his passing, Matsuda was left their father’s pottery supplies and began taking ceramic lessons. They found the experience therapeutic and created pieces for the pure experience of it. Their curvaceous designs soon took off and Matsuda started a ceramic studio, under the name Mud Witch.
“My pottery is uneven, smooth, freckled, chubby, and beautiful in all its diversity and uniqueness.” (In Magazine, 2022)
Mud Witch has grown and is now a small team who collaborations with companies like West Elm and Our Place, alongside the studio’s online store as well as art exhibitions.
Mud Witch x Our Place: Pride Collection
Matsuda is an advocate for all things inclusive and diverse and speaks about their work as a reflection of this. They explain their Pride collection collaboration with homewares store, Our Place:
“I designed these mugs to celebrate that feeling of being together around the brunch table with chosen family, and I painted them with stripes that honour our community’s many unique identities and intersections.”
Mud Witch creations - image: dwell.com
We are huge fans of Mud Witch’s designs, shapes, colours and inclusive message.
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We luv to support makers of all kinds – particularly those committed to their craft, who want to make a difference in the world. Do you have a project you’d like to share with the world? Hit us up, we’d luv to hear from you: workwithus@toitoitoiluv.com
To hear more from Viviana Matsuda:
Check out this interview for West Elm’s “Stand With Pride” web series: https://vimeo.com/420376635 or check out the Mud Witch website over at: https://mudwitch.com/
Sources
https://www.dwell.com/article/the-dwell-24-mud-witch-7cfe9b12
https://www.sunset.com/home-garden/design/western-artisan-makers-ceramics-wood-textiles#artisan-maker-viviana-matsuda-mud-witch
https://www.dwell.com/article/the-dwell-24-mud-witch-7cfe9b12/6843697896371052544
All images © mudwitch
Do you have an artistic project you’d love to share with the world?
Get in touch, we’d luv to hear from you.
Send us a message at workwithus@toitoitoiluv.com
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