Zeynep Boyan’s left arm houses a detail of an ancient column. The artist, originally from Turkey, had this tattoo done in Istanbul six years ago, taking inspiration from the columns of different archaeological sites in the metropolis.
“The columns once served as foundations; they allowed a building to stand upright. They reflect my way of living and thinking. I need to be able to rely on this kind of foundation to move forward,” confides the woman who has passionately cultivated a nomadic spirit since the age of 17.
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PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Zeynep Boyan will notably present at SOUK a collection of small sculptures on a pedestal.
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PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Among the ceramist’s sketches we find the drafts of her side tables presented during Toronto design week last January.
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PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
The shelves of his workshop house prototypes of the collection imagined for the SOUK.
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A quick glance at her studio allows you to find the presence of these strong lines around her, whether it be the side tables presented at the IDS show in Toronto last January or the small sculptures hoisted on a pedestal to which she is putting the finishing touches for the next edition of SOUK, in which she will participate. Chance led the artist to invest in an old house where an architect decided, in the last century, to integrate antique-inspired cast iron columns. The marriage of styles across the ages is all the more intriguing.
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PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Zeynep Boyan will also present at the SOUK plates decorated with different types of enamel.
The young woman arrived in Quebec on a beautiful white winter day, in 2021, when the pandemic was still causing people to hunker down at home. The jack-of-all-trades, a cinema graduate from the prestigious École supérieure des arts Saint-Luc, in Brussels, who was then filling sketchbooks without a specific goal, took advantage of this isolation to put her hand to clay and , little by little, become familiar with the material.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
The lines of the artist’s sculptures often seem to freeze a movement.
“This timeless break allowed me to explore this form of creativity in calm while the situation outside was chaotic,” she says. The seventh art always accompanies Zeynep’s creative approach. “The mirror facing my work table is like a kind of camera. It is very important in my practice. I always observe the reflection of my sculptures there. He guides me,” explains the woman who also takes particular care in documenting her work, particularly on her Instagram account @zeynep.boyan. “I consider my photos as portraits of my sculptures,” she says, smiling.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
The ceramist works exclusively with stoneware using the coil technique.
Natural inclination
We also find here and there his collections of stones collected during travels, in Quebec or elsewhere. A shape, a texture, a tone… Nature greatly inspires the artist who also chose sandstone, an earth mixed with sand, to give substance to his creations. “I like to feel like ceramics could have been found in nature, because I have a deep admiration for his work,” she emphasizes.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
The “Units” storage modules feature a handle with organic shapes inspired by nature.
Its “Units” storage modules, unveiled last month at Dutch Design Week, have a delicately grained finish which accentuates their singularity. “Rather than having a cold object, I want to celebrate the imperfection and originality of it,” she says. What inevitably emerges from his work is an invitation to curiosity, that which pushes us to constantly approach something in our familiar environment with a fresh perspective and to let ourselves be amazed by it a little more each day.