Barcelona-based ceramicist Marta Bonilla lives and breathes rhythm. In her workshop, she moves between rise and rest, creation and dreaming – a cadence that shapes not just her days, but every piece she makes by hand. Her objects carry traces of their making: marks of touch, time and intention, guided by instinct and the beauty of process laid bare.
It's this philosophy that made Marta the perfect face of our Soluna collection. Like her ceramics, Soluna is designed around rhythm – the push and pull of sun and moon, structure and freedom. These are notebooks and planners made to flow with you, to hold your thoughts, plans and dreams as they unfold.
Here, Marta reflects on motherhood, making and the freedom found in trusting intuition.
On motherhood & balance
“Combining motherhood nowadays with work involves a lot of juggling. Working on my own with all the responsibility that entails, while I am a mother of two children who still need me a lot, is not always easy. But what comforts me about all this is that I still carry out a craft that requires time, dedication and a lot of concentration.
My work is nourished a lot by motherhood and vice versa. It is a constant exchange. I also think that the balance that the children have given me in my day-to-day is to distinguish the essential from the non-essential. They have helped me a lot to organise my time in a much more conscious way, and thus avoid exhausting myself with things that do not add up and can distract me from the essential and simple things of the day-to-day.”
On paper, notes & working by hand
During the creative process, I use a lot of paper and my notebooks – those are my logs where I note down the materials I use for each piece, or where I first sketch the prototypes. I have always been more analogue than technological in that sense, much more connected to working with paper.
Now I simply have less time for it, but writing things down has always helped me a great deal to organise my ideas and also as a way to note reminders for myself.
On process, rhythm & respecting time
“Arriving at the studio each morning is a moment filled with excitement, as time passes very quickly in the workshop when I’m doing what I love most. I try to organise the day by priorities. If orders need to be prepared that day or a kiln needs to be loaded, for example.
Starting a new piece is always a mixture of curiosity and possibility and, at times, a certain unease, as you don’t always have the certainty of what the final result will be or exactly where you want to take that particular piece.
Working with clay requires respect for its stages. For example, while the material is still wet, that is when it is ready to be shaped. During the drying process, it needs to lose moisture evenly. If we rush this stage, we can ruin the piece with cracks or end up with a result that is not what we expected.
Each stage has its own timing and cannot be forced. It is an exercise that requires a great deal of observation and intuition.”
When you trust your intuition, something beautiful happens.
On freedom, imperfection & intuition
"Ceramics also means letting go of the idea of perfection – for example, leaving a texture that has appeared accidentally, or some of the marks left by the hand while building a piece. For me, these are signs that can add character to what I make, and being able to decide on this kind of detail gives me a great sense of freedom in my work.
In my case, knowing when a piece is finished often has more to do with a very particular feeling. It is a feeling of satisfaction rather than a highly rational decision."
As Marta shows us, when you trust your intuition, something beautiful happens. Life has its rhythms – some days we find the flow, some days we don’t. Marta’s practice shifts with the seasons, the light, and the material in her hands. She writes to slow down, to notice, to remember what matters. From morning inspiration to evening reflection, sunlight to starlight, Soluna is an invitation to do the same – to move freely, create boldly and leave your own marks on every page.
