Druid Ceramics is Grażyna Butrykowska, a ceramicist from Gdańsk who works and runs workshops at Skos Studio. She makes everyday pottery inspired by fantasy and role-playing games, with screen-printed illustrations like those in old books and carved details, and teaches others how to make it. Her signature screen-printed bowls with a magical glaze are at Locus Artis in Gdańsk.
She came to ceramics at a moment that sounds like the start of a good novel. When she lost the data for her PhD – and she was writing it about otters – she went to a pottery class to unwind. A few months later she had a kiln of her own.
Grażyna’s first brand was called Las Rąk. Some time ago she changed it to Druid Ceramics. So if you come across Las Rąk somewhere and it looks familiar – that’s her.
She says she makes everyday artefacts. She likes screen printing because it gives the look of illustrations from old books, and she adds carved details – together they make objects that look as if they came from the past. Her inspiration comes from fantasy and role-playing games: hence the bowls with D20 dice and the tankards with a wood texture.
She doesn’t make things that gather dust on a shelf, only pots for everyday use. About firing she writes: “Every time I open the kiln it’s exciting – like unwrapping a present.” She also teaches, convinced that making functional pottery takes not talent but knowledge and a few tricks.
What she brought to Locus Artis.
For autumn she brought bowls with chanterelles to Locus Artis. On the shelf you will also find her cheeky bum mugs, tankards with a wood texture, and bowls and ornaments with D20 dice.
Grażyna has one request: put her pots in the dishwasher – really. She also runs pottery workshops, in English too.