Uruguay · Wheel-thrown high-temperature stoneware and sculptural ceramics
Cerámica de Alta Temperatura (Gres)
Stoneware (gres) thrown on the wheel for functional ware and built into sculptural volumes assembled with iron, using clay the maker collects himself or sources from Uruguayan deposits; the sculptural series refer to Uruguayan territory and identity. The leading documented practitioner, Javier Wijnants Saráchaga (born Montevideo, 1976), trained in stoneware in 1996 at Taller Barrientos under Carlos Barrientos and Julio Roldán, during a wave of ceramic-factory closures in 1990s Uruguay, and works from his studio, Naceres, in Ciudad Vieja. His work won Uruguay's Premio Nacional de Artesanía (honorable mention 2017, second prize 2021, first prize 2023 for 'Toros') and the UNESCO-sponsored Reconocimiento de Excelencia a la Artesanía de América del Sur (Santiago, Chile, 2024); he has twice been resident at Jingdezhen Ceramic University, China, and teaches at the Centro Psiquiátrico Larrañaga and the Facultad de Artes (Centro Universitario Regional del Este, Rocha).
Risk level: Vulnerable · Not Applicable as a direct craft-technique ICH inscription; Wijnants personally received the 2024 Reconocimiento de Excelencia a la Artesanía de América del Sur, an individual honor sponsored by UNESCO, awarded in Santiago, Chile
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