Meet the Antwerp-Based Artist Who Traded Cloth for Clay

Ten years ago, this Antwerp-based artist, then working in fashion, took a drive to Perignem, an erstwhile ceramics factory outside Bruges. He and his partner, both collectors of Belgian pottery, were hoping to get a 1960s vessel authenticated by the factory that produced it. Inside, Elisabeth Vandeweghe, who had inherited the atelier, encouraged her visitors to give things a try, so Bouterse dusted off the materials and tools.

Bouterse outside his weekend workspace, an atelier in Beernem, Brussels.

The atelier in Beernem once housed Perignem, a ceramics factory founded in 1948. Bouterse still uses many of the original tools, materials, and kiln to make his work.

Over the course of repeat visits, he would steadily teach himself how to throw and build, all through trial and error. “I think the fastest way to learn something is to just do it and see what happens,” Bouterse says.

Ceramicist Harvey Bouterse with a range of works.

“If it doesn’t work, you do it again.” Since 2015, when he officially traded cloth for clay, he has unveiled vases adorned with graphic imagery, otherworldly candelabra, and sculptural wall panels, all fired in Perignem, where he continues to work on weekends (and is pictured above).

Next to the atelier is an identical building that Bouterse uses as an exhibition space for his recent works, as shown here.

“I try not to give myself rules,” notes Bouterse, whose creations—often finished with a mix of new and historic glazes—have won him fans on the order of AD100 designer Pierre Yovanovitch and The Future Perfect’s David Alhadeff. “I make it, and that’s it. That is the freedom with ceramics.” hrvi.be

For a recent collection, Bouterse cut graphic shapes out of clay and attached them to slick ceramic vessels.

An array of Bouterse’s ceramic creations and glaze samples in the studio.