Clay.

What to expect from a clay architecture wanderer?

… that’s too long for a name I know, don’t judge me !

Words are how we think // Stories are how we link.

— CHRISTINA BALDWIN

Al Salamou Aleykoum. Peace be upon you.

If you’re still reading this, I presume you’re curious about knowing what does “clay architecture wanderer” means. And yes, it’s a long word for someone to introduce himself, but let’s say it’s the temporary label. Let’s start with the main component : clay.

There is an obvious irony in trying to communicate virtually about something that must be experienced in real life. The materiality of clay is mesmerising depending on the definition we had of it while growing up. It has always been untouchable, the physical definition of dirty and messy. What is considered as the trash of all materials, the anti-luxurious, is in the eyes of the clay wanderer as the forgotten gem buried under our feet. Growing up in a desertic country, I’ve been always surrounded by sand and I learned to feel the texture of everything that I see. Being unable to touch clay because it was considered as dirty was frustrating to me, but never questioned. Now that I know about all the benefits of using it, let me reassure you that I will make sure there is clay in every playground possible, for the kids to experiment its plasticity, creating all shapes, breaking them and starting again with a new shape.

– That’s actually what is intriguing in clay. Its quasi-never-ending circle of life, like a magical tool to express your ever changing self, this evolving personality you have, with its good and bad aspects –

Oh, how wonderful to be able to embrace the changing characteristic of all living elements on earth, in a cradle-to-cradle process that impersonates what is the core of the natural course of life!

From a more spiritual point of view, clay has always been present in my mind, as I grew learning more and more about my religion. Indeed, it is mentioned many times in Quran, and one of the main topics in which it came back is the creation of Adam :

وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الْإِنْسَانَ مِنْ صَلْصَالٍ مِنْ حَمَإٍ مَسْنُونٍ

“And We did certainly create man out of clay from an altered black mud.”

Therefore, clay was in my mind this substance considered on one hand like the origin of creation of humankind and on the other hand as dirty. These two completely conflicted points of view are until now something that triggers me.

If you decide to keep reading my articles, we should come to the agreement to never again consider mud, clay, soil – or whatever name you give to it – as dirty, as it is just another natural material like stone, sand, water. Shifting that perception is hard in the beginning, but trust me if you stay enough time you’ll discover what beautiful things you can create with it.

On that note, I’m letting you take a moment to think about this topic : What does clay represent to you?

Sincerely yours,

Tarba.