OOTB Abbeymount Studios

Borja Moronta is originally from Asturias, northern Spain. He settled in Edinburgh after graduating as an Architect in 2016 (Madrid Polytechnic University). Throughout university, he had big interest in different disciplines such as photography, ceramics or carpentry, and always felt drawn to that architecture which focuses on the materiality of the buildings. His pottery practice began at the beginning of 2018, as part of a recovery process from a severe surgery due to nerve damage on his left hand. He joined Edinburgh Ceramics Workshop evening classes and soon became a member. Borja worked his way through the ECW structure and became part of their Incubator programme for emerging ceramicists in July 2019, setting up his own studio just a year later. Today, based in his Edinburgh studio, based in Abbeymount, Borja makes ceramics that follow basic, calmed and natural forms on a soft tone palette. Each piece is individually crafted on the potter’s wheel and throughout all the stages, therefore showing all the nature of handmade.

Julija Pustovrh is trained as a Landscape Architect (Edinburgh College of Art), but has been working in ceramics since 2016. She developed a varied independent practice, spanning from wheel-thrown to hand-build pieces, and from sculptural works to jewellery. Majority of her current work is in contemporary tableware, with distinctive mix of simple, elegant forms and meaningful, contextual materials. Her studio is located at the Abbeymount in Edinburgh, Scotland and she is also the Technician at the Edinburgh Ceramics Workshop.

My current work explores and interprets languages of ornament from different cultures, places and periods in history. From my Edinburgh studio I create intricate and colourful ceramic objects that celebrate this fascination for ornament and pattern, using clay as a canvas on which to build richly drawn and layered surfaces of inlaid line, glaze colour and enamel decals.

Beyond the studio I develop projects and commissions that respond to people and places, using my interests as a platform from which to engage with new environments. This approach has lead to work in varied and sometimes unexpected settings, from an English Tudor banqueting room in Sheffield, to a country home on the Scottish Island of Raasay.