Clay for Design (Rock Fiber Clay) with Joan Carreras

Rock Fiber Clay is a lightweight clay body made by combining clay slip with plant fibers, creating a material that is strong, flexible, and highly responsive to hand-building techniques. Compared to traditional clay, fiber clay allows for more freedom in construction, experimentation, and surface expression: making it an ideal material for playful and intuitive design processes.

In this one-week workshop, participants will learn how to make and work with fiber clay, using it as a tool to explore design methodologies through hands-on experimentation. Students will work with fibres found around Salemi - such as esparto grass, reeds, agave, and sisal - discovering how they influence texture, flexibility, strength, and surface quality when combined with clay slip.

The course approaches ceramics from a perspective that blends art, material experimentation, design, and functionality, encouraging students to move beyond traditional ceramic techniques and toward a more experimental way of making.

Alongside material experimentation, participants will learn how to build small wooden molds based on simple geometric volumes, using them to explore the relationship between organic textures and geometric structures. The workshop investigates the contrasts between control and spontaneity, geometry and irregularity, developing a playful and intuitive approach inspired by the spirit of the game “rock, paper, scissors.”

Throughout the course, participants will create material samples and develop a small family of 1 to 4 functional objects (approximately 10–30 cm), inspired by traditional furniture elements, tools, containers, or decorative objects connected to the culture of Salemi. By combining fibers, clay, and wooden molds, participants will produce expressive pieces where functionality, material research, and tactile experimentation coexist.