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This Artist Creates Adorable Weird Ceramic Sculptures That Double As Home Decor (40 Pics)
Interview With Artist
Ceramics can be practical, decorative, or purely sculptural, but Polish artist Agata Iwaszkiewicz rarely seems interested in keeping those categories separate. Through her small brand, Ceramika Matylda, she creates peculiar creatures and everyday objects that feel less like conventional pottery and more like characters with lives of their own. Animals appear throughout her work, often with oversized eyes, elongated limbs, exaggerated ears, tiny teeth, and wonderfully odd expressions. Their irregular proportions and expressive faces give them the feeling of characters from some strange, handmade universe rather than straightforward representations of real animals.
The handmade character of the ceramics is also central to their appeal. Uneven surfaces, subtle asymmetry, visible textures, and delicate glaze variations make each piece feel individual. Rather than aiming for perfect repetition, Agata allows the quirks of the material and the making process to become part of each character. Many of these creations also have a practical side. Sculptural figures become vessels, candle holders, salt shakers, oil burners, dishes, vases, and other objects meant to live alongside their owners. Sometimes the function is immediately obvious, while in other pieces it almost feels like an afterthought, a surprising little feature hidden inside a sculpture that already works on its own. There is often a slightly darker edge beneath the humor, too. On her website, Agata describes the worlds contained in her work as places where tenderness, playfulness, darkness, and the grotesque can coexist. Dogs hold an especially important place in her work. Some of her recent ceramic poodles were inspired by her late dog Rudolf, turning the series into both a tribute and a way of remembering the joy he brought into her life.
We reached out to Agata to learn more about her process and where these delightfully strange creations come from. Scroll down to read the full interview and see a selection of her creations.
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We first asked Agata how her distinctive ceramic characters and recognizable visual language developed over time, and what usually sparks the idea for a new creature: “It’s actually quite hard for me to explain where my ideas come from. They just appear in my head, and I try to bring them to life exactly as I imagine them. I’ve never consciously tried to develop a distinctive or recognizable style. I think an artist’s style evolves naturally over years of working — it comes from the way they see the world, their sense of humor, their sensitivity, and the things they’re drawn to. Over time, it becomes something deeply personal, almost a part of who you are, which is why I don’t think it’s something you can really plan or simply decide to change.”
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We were also curious about the way she combines sculpture with functionality, and whether the practical purpose of a piece usually comes before or after the character itself: “My creative process is quite chaotic - maybe that has something to do with my ADHD. I don’t really have one set way of working. Sometimes I’ll make a simple form, like a vase, and only afterwards decide what it could become or what I could add to it. Other times it’s the complete opposite - I’ll have an idea for a strange or funny little animal, and only later figure out how to make it functional. I might add something to it and suddenly it becomes a candle holder, a vase, or some other functional object.”
Since dogs appear so frequently in her work, Bored Panda asked what makes them such an important source of inspiration and how her own experiences with animals have shaped what she creates: “I love nature, and animals have always been a very important part of both my life and my work. But dogs have always come first. I truly believe they are the most wonderful creatures ever sent to this earth. To me, there is nothing more perfect than a dog.”
Finally, when asked about the unusual mix of humor, tenderness, and grotesque elements that appears throughout her ceramics, and whether she hopes viewers will experience a particular emotion when encountering them, Agata said: “I’m really glad you see that in my work, because humor, tenderness, and a touch of strangeness are all very much a part of me, so I suppose they naturally come through in the things I make. But when I’m creating, I don’t really think about what I want people to feel. I just put myself into my work - my sense of humor, my sensitivity, and the way I see the world. I think there’s a little bit of me in every character I create.”
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