About

Milja Bannwart is a Finnish-Swiss ceramic artist and industrial designer based in Brooklyn. Her work spans ceramics, product design, packaging, and branding. Born and raised in Berlin, she was shaped by a multicultural environment that profoundly influenced her creative journey. Milja studied Industrial Design at the Berlin University of the Arts and holds a Master of Industrial Design from Pratt Institute. After nearly two decades working as a product and packaging designer in New York City, she returned to her roots in clay and established her Brooklyn studio in 2023. Embracing the tactile, organic qualities of clay and the intimacy of handmade work, Milja shifted away from the mass-produced objects of her earlier career. Drawing from the beauty of pristine natural surroundings and mid-century Scandinavian design, she creates sculptural ceramics that emphasize form. Surfaces are often left unglazed or finished with a subtle glaze to highlight texture.

Creative Process

With clay being a lifelong passion since childhood, Milja learned slip casting as a production technique while studying Industrial Design at Pratt Institute. Her creative process begins with loosely sketching ideas and forms. She then crafts scale models from modeling clay before moving on to create a full-scale prototype in plaster. This process involves wheel-throwing and then hand-sculpting to refine the shape. Once the prototype is complete, she makes a plaster mold, which is used to cast final pieces in porcelain. Milja counts Eva Zeisel, Gunnel Nyman, Tapio Wirkkala, Oiva Toikka, and Timo Sarpaneva among her key influences.

Slip Casting

Milja’s work is centered on slip casting, a ceramics technique that involves pouring liquid clay into a prepared plaster mold to produce a casting, typically a hollow form. She views this technique not merely as a method for creating multiples but as an art form in its own right. She is inspired by the unique creative possibilities it offers, from achieving silky-smooth surfaces to capturing intricate textures that would be difficult to replicate through other methods. By exploring the interplay between prototype, mold and porcelain, Milja embraces experimentation, manipulating mold forms, introducing new elements, and varying clay and pouring techniques. Porcelain plays a key role in her process, beautifully reflecting the fine details of the pottery plaster used in prototypes and molds with almost photographic precision. While rooted in small scale serial production reminiscent of industrial design production methods, her handcrafted approach ensures a deeply personal, intimate quality in her work.