CERAMICS, PHOTOS
& DESIGN OBJECTS
Interdisciplinary Creative Synergy
Scroll down
Damazu Studio
At the heart of DAMAZU Studio is a co-creative project, a collaboration and synergy between two artists - David Marchandise & Zuzana Hudacek Marchandise and their individual fields of expression: CERAMICS, PHOTOGRAPHY, DESIGN OBJECTS, PAINTING, PERFORMANCE ART and CREATIVE MOVEMENT. From that encounter is born an ever-changing dialogue between shapes, colours, textures and spatial relating.
An interdisciplinary hub - as Damazu Studio we share what makes us vibrate and alive. During our collaborative exhibitions, you are invited to step into an imaginary world inspired by the raw qualities of nature and the rich diversity of the world, where our hand-made creations and select photographs converse together in their own, mysterious language.
Damazu collaboration was founded during an artist-residency at ‘Four Winds’ in Aureille (Les Alpilles, Provence, France) in 2016. Since then, DAMAZU studio has been serving as a co-creative platform for diverse artistic synergies to take shape.
DAMAZU /dä-mah-zoo/ n. [m.f.] >> 1 Creative Interdisciplinary Hub / Damazu Feeling >> 2 Creative Synergy of Ceramics + Photography + Painting + Creative Movement + Special Events >> 3 Atelier / Studio / Place of creation where one makes visible what one loves' >> 4 Sharing of hand-crafted creative works >> 5 -syn. Extraordinary Creations for Daily Life
WHAT WE DO
'Be Your Own Kind Of Beautiful!'
DAVID MARCHANDISE FOR DAMAZU STUDIO
All CERAMICS at Damazu Studio are envisioned and hand-made by Interdisciplinary Artist, Ceramicist David Marchandise. David's ceramic creations gravitate towards radical and essential aesthetic made of simple lines and sensual curves, exploring the plasticity of clay and the unique impact a radical intervention along with specific glazing & firing techniques can have on each piece.
"Once I started, I couldn't stop" - David M.
ZUZANA HUDACEK MARCHANDISE FOR DAMAZU STUDIO
All PHOTOGRAPHS at Damazu Studio, captured by Interdisciplinary Artist, Photographer/Video-maker, Zuzana Hudacek Marchandise, are reflections on the necessity for recognizing deeper beauty in the daily life & seemingly ordinary environments. The mood is meditative, opening the door for something more subtle to emerge from within each frame.
Select Photographs presented on this website are FOR SALE (Shipping Available only on Unframed Prints). Please visit our 'Store' and / or contact us to inquire.
OUR TWO
SHORT STORIES
Team Damazu
David Marchandise
Multidisciplinary Artist - David’s scope of creative expression includes Painting, Ceramics, Pottery and Performance Art.
Fascinated by Post-War American Abstraction, David went on to study Painting at the New York Studio School of Painting, Drawing and Sculpture. After that experience, he began to develop a personal way of presenting his colourful work through movement and interaction with the audience. His art performances Freedom From The Known - The Doors , My Job, Home Alone and 13 Doors where exhibited in Italy, Switzerland and Belgium.
In 2010, in parallel with his work as a painter, David went to Jingdezhen, China for several residencies to learn porcelain craftsmanship. He then expanded and deepened his knowledge of pottery and ceramics at La Meridiana - an International Ceramic Center in Tuscany. Later on he went to Icheon, Korea, to learn from a Ceramic Master certain traditional techniques for making vessels. During his years of living and working in Canada, David began to expand his relationship of working with clay into the realm of sculpture, developing a personal way of interacting with the medium. The discovery of plasticity of clay is an endless path…
David co-created Damazu Studio, together with his wife Zuzana. He works and lives in Eygalières, France, at the foot of Les Alpilles.
_1684.jpg)
Zuzana Hudacek Marchandise
Zuzana's creative work has been a process of evolution and discovery. At the base, working as a visual storyteller - Filmmaker & Photographer - Zuzana collaborated on a large number of video, film and photography projects ranging from those of her own independent making to those of various advertising, photography, film & television production houses.
During her Film & Visual Arts studies at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University), Zuzana was the recipient of an 'Outstanding Filmmaker Grant’. At the start of her career she was selected for an Emerging Filmmaker 'Calling-Card Grant’ from the National Film-board of Canada (NFB) for which she directed a Documentary Film entitled Heaven Or Not. She was selected as a finalist in the nation-wide Short-Film competition for the 2010 Canada Winter Olympic Games, for which she directed a short spot entitled Joy that played during the Canada & UK Olympic Games as well as the Berlin International Film Festival.
In 2014 Zuzana founded a Rome-based yoga studio, where she created an inspiring space to host Rome’s international community and developed her own creative style of yoga she now teaches independently as ZEM Flow Yoga.
In her visual work Zuzana draws more and more upon the rawness, mystery and wisdom of Nature as a reflection of her own inner inquiry and necessity for creative expression, allowing diverse forms of visual storytelling to emerge.
Together with her husband David, Zuzana also launched DAMAZU Studio to collaborate on creative projects that align their unique artistic expressions. The couple currently reside and work in Eygalières, in the south of France, at the foot of Les Alpilles.
Designing & Building Our (first) Dream Studio Space
Back in 2017 we set out to one of Canada's Gulf Islands in the Pacific North West to draw up & build our dream studio. We found a beautiful old farm and without any architect, we dreamed-up & designed the studio building and all the interiors ourselves. This was a huge project for us ... our first of this magnitude: a true apprenticeship and great learning for the both of us. It reinforced our Damazu Team tremendously, and tried us in every way possible. In the end, we were so proud of the outcome - to us, it was one of the best artist-studios we have ever been to / worked in. From up-cycling wood and stones from our land; using pre-loved lights and furnitures; installing septic system to respect the delicate eco-system of the farm; to putting in place a uv-filtered rain-collection system to serve all the studio water needs .. we aimed to respectfully integrate our creative practice within its magnificent natural environment. We also learned, to our surprise, how much we enjoyed designing the whole project - inside and out; and co-creating magical spaces that nurture creativity. In 2021, when the infamous pand###! was changing the nature of our world, we yearned to come back to Europe, returning closer to our roots, families and friends. It was bittersweet. We had to let go of our dream space in order to make room for something new to emerge in our lives. We are now happily settled in the South of France, in a beautiful region of 'Les Alpilles' where we are co-creating the new chapter of our lives and of Damazu Studio ... the journey continues.
As an homage to an important part of our creative journeys, here below we share some photographs of our former (and first!) Damazu Studio Space: Proudly co-created by Damazu Team.
Cheers to many more inspiring projects & spaces !
