Virginia Torrego: “When I begin to work, nothing else exists, only the clay, the breath, and the moment that opens”

Rooted in a state of deep attention, Virginia Torrego’s practice unfolds through a relationship with clay that does not respond to urgency or impulsive gesture, but to a conscious, unhurried process that respects the time of the material itself. “My relationship with clay is a form of mindfulness,” she explains. In manual work, she finds a way to pause, to observe, and to listen to what happens between the hands and the earth, understanding creation as a dialogue rather than an act of imposition.

Born in Madrid, she initially trained in Antique Restoration, Sculpture, and Art History at university, and worked as a museologist. At the age of 34, she opened her first art school in the centre of Madrid. In 2010, she founded Espacio Creativo Creae, her second school, and she currently runs Latrés — her third school, gallery, and studio — located in the heart of the Serra de Tramuntana in Selva, Mallorca.

Today, her work focuses on artistic ceramics, a practice in which gesture carries the same weight as the final result. “Creating is not a quick or immediate act: it is a process that demands care, patience, and respect for the rhythms of the material.” This philosophy permeates her entire body of work, shaping both the tempo of production and the essence of each piece.

In her studio, time takes on a different dimension. “When I begin to work, nothing else exists — only the clay, the breath, and the moment that opens.” Practice becomes an exercise in presence, where the artist accompanies the material without forcing it, embracing imperfection as part of the process and trusting that the act of making itself will refine what is unnecessary. Over the years, this learning has also become a way of being in the world — calmer and more conscious: “Today, I choose a different rhythm. To create slowly.”

Nature is a constant reference, not as an image to be reproduced, but as memory and substrate. The mountains surrounding her studio and the Mallorcan coastline — with stones eroded by sea and salt — remain latent in her work. “I do not try to reproduce these landscapes, but to approach them with humility,” she explains, understanding all creation as an inevitably imperfect and human interpretation.

She works with raw clay and her own mixtures, incorporating sand, stone, volcanic textures, earth, and ash. The process may involve multiple firings and subsequent interventions on already fired pieces, combining the use of fire with cold patinas: waxes, bitumen, oils, and ageing processes that add layers of time and memory. “I use the kiln as a form of fire — as a living element — but I do not abandon patinas that require no firing.” Each object thus becomes a small vessel of experience, carrying history and presence.

Virginia Torrego avoids repetition. Her production is slow, limited, and deliberate, oriented towards unique pieces that understand exclusivity as authenticity. “I never want two identical pieces,” she says, in search of silent, essential forms, close to minimalism. She favours neutral tones, surfaces that retain traces, and forms that breathe. She does not adhere to wabi-sabi as an aesthetic, but as a way of life: to accept, to simplify, and to allow time to converse with matter.

She is currently developing a project of clay lamps weighted with stone and suspended by rope — objects that evoke the ancestral and ancient ways of inhabiting space. Pieces that, like the rest of her work, occupy an intermediate territory between art, object, and presence.

Her work is exhibited and sold in galleries in Mallorca and Menorca, as well as in the gallery of her own studio. She defends the value of craftsmanship and the need to return to honest materials and slow processes in an accelerated world. “My work is earth, fire, and silence,” she concludes. In ceramics, she has found a place of calm and refuge — a space where material and hands meet — from which her work continues to evolve with coherence, stillness, and depth.

Project by Virginia Torrego