Teresa and Helena Jané, are sisters and artists who bet on a brand that is not defined as a style, but as a concept that covers the various aspects of creative ceramics and beyond. It is above all a personal vision that are based on various influences that surround them and they carry it to their pieces.
What attracted you in ceramics?
Jané Helena : I think I was their plasticity and the many possibilities of the material itself . As the area was very familiar, our mother was a teacher of arts and fire crafts very early we learned to recognize great works of Portuguese ceramic artists, we watched our mother in these stages and it was indeed a very familiar area. Otherwise, our brother, already in 1998, also had a project connected to ceramics, tiles. I think that was many factors, knowing the market, what was done and was developed by the artisans and watching the whole process of creation of our mother, we decided to bet on something different.
What sets the THJané style?
HJ : It's not a style. I think we managed to build an identity that does not fit this idea , quite the contrary, when we started the project was a given, because we had different backgrounds, knowledge and broadened our professional activity we work in many cultural events, extra THJané, it help one of our major goals that was to diversify, never fit, or let us engage our creativity in a certain genre and is also a questions of motivation. This is perhaps one of the reasons that lead us to introduce few elements in a collection. We worked various materials and have a diverse portfolio ranging from painting, sculpture to ceramics. This was also another object that was not been loyal to a style, but I think we're building an identity. It is our paradigm .
One of your bets are the accessories, what inspires you to create the collections ?
HJ : The jewels are one of our most aspects related to fashion . The sources of inspiration are very different, particularly for the large collections we launched, the present and its consequences in our personal and professional lives. The nature, talks over coffee, an informal discussion between friends can serve to remind us of a certain accessory. I think that 's basically it . We have pieces that are purely decorative, but always tried to bring some history, some concept behind this same piece. At first when we moved in 2004 with the jewelry , the handles were in 2002, we were more inclined to nature, for more visual aspects of our daily lives, lately our source of inspiration is very connected to our experience, the day -to-day, the present, the crises, personal issues, the loss of loved ones, all this interferes very much so and makes us do much more conceptual collections, with more history than initially.
So how do you transpose all these ideas for ceramics ? I checked you use unusual materials in your pieces, like the string, there is a certain influence of Africa .
HJ : The question of the objects that surround us in our day- to-day, since we were girls, since ever, not just pass by ceramics. Are mixed with other works that came from Africa, that our parents brought from Angola, during or inspired by the stage that my mother was running as a teacher and also we are not from a wealthy family, because we did not have many resources were four children and our parents were both civil servants, there was never much money, it was always instilled in us trying to achieve our objectives to meet our needs, so we used to do great juggling, to invent things and at the same time being very practical people, we ended up bringing all this to our project . We are ceramist yes, and we are in an era that we liked , with brutal national creativity and beyond, to stick us in the shelf of ceramics and have a certain bias to any material, I think that this will not help make us different and bring innovation to the market. The mix of materials is indeed important, its organic is something that concerns us, we understand that there are certain materials that do better with ceramics, more land, which has more to do with what we do, so we opted for fabrics, yarns, some of them we make, others acquired, but always give a different touch, embroider, always bring innovation to the piece , as was the case of rubber, the " Fisgay " where everyone was all in doubt if it would be a necklace or an object. I joke because in the CCB ( Centro Cultural de Belém ) was exposed as being a jewel and there was a question of interpretation by the tenant and the management , but I think that there should be that concern. Also because a ceramic jewelry is limiting, we always need support to make toughest the pieces, more wearable collection and we believe it is necessary to apply different kind of materials there .
Teresa and Helena have a dialectic, then how combine these different ideas and thoughts ? How does it work your creative process ?
HJ : The following happens : one of us always has an idea, never happens at the same time as you can imagine, Teresa has an idea for a part with a given area, well before their physicality, we thought about how we assign a concept, a story, how you will do it, what will apply for materials and so it starts running that part of the idea , this spontaneity to say what we do with this? We started a discussion with each other, a bit like a piece we created recently in an attempt to move from idea to action, then we'll see who's going to do what. But I think I tried to reach a consensus through a starting point that will be Teresa and me. It's a great need, not having a third element to break ties us with certain discussions, since the beginning we have a major concern we have different ideas and when we reached the end of the process even if it is a piece designed and created by Teresa there's always something of me, even the text or accessories around it, the consensus is always necessary . At this point, after several years of work we are already much more serene, more pro the idea of each other and tried to help us in many ways , because there is this urgency to launch the product in the market and so we have tried to resolve as soon as possible some diferences that arise throughout the process .
How does the market look at two Portuguese ceramist? There is an acceptance by the general public or not ?
HJ : There is, from the early years we worked for the domestic market , where we bet strong in this niche, it's not just us, it is for all professionals . This is a very cherished area by the public because there are many fabulous Portuguese ceramist, and not only speak of Bordallo Pinheiro, the most contemporary of this area has a high level of quality and that is why we bet on this market with new products . Before you asked me about the jewels, they have emerged as a complement to our work, from the beginning we have worked on original handles because we noticed that there was a gap in the market, even when it is seasonal, the Portuguese like to offer this type of piece in christmas, Easter and birthdays, especially they appreciate the difference, looking for something innovative in terms of ceramics .
What is the next step for THJané ? In terms of the near future what do you want for your brand ?
HJ : I think it is what we are currently doing, attempting to return to the beginning , is trying to extend our work times, which we consider as our breaks. Last year we did an exhibition that have entitled the " breaks " that were the times of work and creating art pieces . An artist currently is lost on a series of issue , from marketing , to the appearance of the site, texts , etc. that are important, but they draw then appart from times of creation, which is what the THJané lives. There are two, three years we presented collections at a breakneck pace , then for the last four years we started to present only two and lately it's just one, because it is terrible to be attached to a number of issues, presentation of the product, the type of packaging and how we will expose them. These features led us to look for partners able to work on a project with twelve years and that aims to maintain innovation and quality levels very high . Our knobs have put us in a very high stakes, published in foreign magazines as fabulous objects of ceramics , and in fact to maintain these levels we need partners to make space for the creation and simplify some procedures, which is not easy . Our goal is to go back and be able to create components with time and can position them accordingly in the national and international market.
