Visiting Artist
Claudia Issa
Claudia Issa, a São Paolo-based ceramicist and designer, is the latest artist to offer creative inspiration and define a new aesthetic vocabulary through Kornegay Design’s Visiting Artist Program. Issa’s work often incorporates elements of intentional imperfection, creating nontraditional beauty out of traditionally discarded materials and organic, asymmetrical forms—a creative vision that both draws on Larry Kornegay’s original artistic intent but also inspires a new direction for the brand.
Sometimes I take a piece of clay, I knead it and the shape comes up. It is my hands that ‘think’ and I let it be so to see what will arise. I find it beautiful that something imperfect can stubbornly show itself as it is, imposing its own beauty, breaking with standards.” -Claudia Issa
It is this fresh perspective, depth of global experience, and enthusiasm to push creative boundaries that is driving a new spirit of innovation at Kornegay Design. Paseos, Issa’s collection released in December, 2020, is a result of true collaboration, combining her artistic vision with Kornegay’s mastery of precast concrete to offer a suite of seating and landscape containers that is truly unique.
Artist Biography
Claudia Issa is relatively new to ceramics as a medium, however, with her rapid international success as evidence, she is not at all new to professional creative endeavors. Issa honed her skills and distinct artistic vision throughout a successful 20-year career in art direction, fashion and graphic design, but moved on seeking new challenges and renewed creative inspiration.
Issa points to this malleable, ever-evolving nature of her creativity as one of the reasons why she connected so profoundly with Kornegay Design. The collaboration was truly a mutual, back-and-forth creative process. Despite the fact that Kornegay Design works in precast concrete—a material and process with which Issa was relatively unfamiliar—the two were able to land on a design that is very representative of the artist and her creative vision. Kornegay designers worked closely with Issa, developing a collaborative rapport, understanding her artistic vision and maintaining its integrity through extensive discussion and collaboration.
My previous career was fantastic, but when these tasks stopped offering me increasing challenges, I left in search of something new. In that search, I ended up discovering my own hands in a new way. That’s what being a ceramicist added to my creative profile—using my hands to enter a new third dimension, the dimension of the object.” — Claudia Issa
Paseos by Claudia Issa
Paseos are public scale site amenities that playfully juxtapose balance, motion and rotation with the boldness and stability of precast concrete. Three unique, sculptural forms—a tall landscape container, a wide landscape container and a solid pedestal that can serve as a low-slung seat or side table—create interactive, large-scale installations.
