Fernando Durao — Studio Pottery Artist

Studio pottery artist Fernando Durao has worked at the wheel for over 35 years. Based in Lanús, Buenos Aires, his studio produces one-of-a-kind handmade ceramic art — vases and sculptures fired at 1200°C in high-fire stoneware, finished with custom mineral slips developed over decades of daily practice. No commercial glazes. No editions. No reproductions.

1990 — Where It Began

Fernando came to the wheel not as a hobby but as a craft — from the beginning. In those first years it became clear that ceramics was not a discipline of fast production but of slow listening: to the clay, to the glaze, to the fire. That slowness was never an obstacle. It became the method.

1996–2012 — Fifteen Years of Craft Without a Signature

For over fifteen years, Fernando designed and produced artisan tableware for some of Argentina’s most prominent interior design houses. The work circulated under their names — that was a condition of those commissions. The craft was his. The signature was not.

That period built something essential: an absolute command of technical excellence in studio pottery. And it made clear, definitively, the value of authorship.

2015–2022 — Teaching the Wheel

Intermittently over those years, Fernando taught pottery. Teaching the wheel is one of the most demanding ways to understand what you know — it forces you to decompose every gesture, every pressure, every decision that years of practice have made automatic. Those classes sharpened his reading of the process. And confirmed something he already understood: the potter’s wheel is a craft that cannot be learned quickly and cannot be faked.

2022 — The Collections Begin

In 2022, Fernando made a decision that changed the direction of his work: to dedicate himself exclusively to small, slow productions — each piece signed, each piece his.

From that decision came three collections. Unikas Black — wheel-thrown black stoneware vases with a custom matte mineral slip. Unikas Quartz — white stoneware vessels with a mineral quartz surface that reads like stone. And Moradores — a series of abstract figurative sculptures that inhabit a room rather than decorate it.

Each collection is available in limited, unrepeatable sets. Every piece is fired at 1200°C and leaves the studio with a signed certificate of authenticity.

Recognition

Fernando’s work is currently carried by Fontenla, one of Argentina’s most respected interior design references. His pieces have been exhibited by Hugo Di Marco — a leading figure in Argentine interior design — at Casa FOA, the country’s most prestigious design showcase. Both relationships were built on craft and authorship: his name has always been present.

The Process — Still Ongoing

The work doesn’t stop at the collections. Fernando continues to research clays and glazes — new formulas, new temperatures, new reactions inside the kiln. Research is a constitutive part of the process, not a complement to it.

Slow production is not a limitation. It is a choice. It means that every piece that leaves the studio is exactly what it needs to be — without compromise, without rushing, without sacrificing the standard.

That is what 35 years at the wheel produces.

Explore the collections: Unikas Black · Unikas Quartz · Moradores

For pricing, availability, or to discuss a specific piece — contact Fernando directly.

Follow the studio on Instagram: @durao.studio