Bernardita Cossio
Bio
Designer from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, with a Diploma in Aesthetics in Art History (1997-2001). She has been a partner and art director at her design agency Panda Chile for 10 years. In 2011 she began a change of course towards the investigation of objects. In 2015 she took a Diploma in Digital Manufacturing at the same University to learn about new creation technologies. In 2016 she entered the Bajo el Roble Workshop where she made her first approach to ceramics and began experimenting with textile molds. In 2017 she moved to New York where she expanded her knowledge on the chemistry of ceramic pastes with the academic Matt Katz (Ceramic Engineer Alfred University, University of Colorado-Boulder) In 2022 her proposal is selected for the Fondart , Category Production and Creation. Currently she lives and works in Chile and continues her research in a self-taught way.
Statement
Although I am defined as a ceramist, most of my work takes place on my sewing machine, a trade that has been present in my family for generations. Through simple lines and parametric designs, the stitching imprints on the leather an infinite variety of patterns and surfaces that appear when the mold is unveiled:
"Just as the seeds gestate in their pods, it is from these textile constructions that the final piece is born."
In my process, by working with unconventional variables, the workshop becomes a laboratory where humidity, temperature, consistencies and gravity are put to the test over and over again until the correct alchemy is achieved. Each piece is an exercise in shapes, volumes, physical tensions and chemical processes that I have been adjusting through my log of successes and failures.
