COLOR, LIGHT AND CRAFTSMANSHIP OF MOSAICS BY KAUTAR LARIF

Kautar Larif is an artist whose work with color, light and reflection is visible through the craftsmanship of mosaics.

Drawing inspiration from iconic artists like Etel Adnan, Nicolas De Staël, Joan Miró, to name a few. Larif’s work weaves a narrative that transcends cultural and geographical boundaries. We passed by her to studio located in Gracia, Barcelona to discover more about her work and personality.

How did you become interested in venetian glass and mosaics ?

 

I began working at BISAZZA without having any previous experience in the decoration or crafts field. It was my first connection with mosaic to later meeting and collaborating with PIERRE MESGUICH. With him I could learn and experiment with my own creativity. Creating from a new status quo, it’s a magical process that can’t be explained. I just pull-out forms, it’s an instinct I’ve got as part of my nature. I’ve always liked working with my hands. But it took me a while to figure out where I wanted to devote my time. Why Venetian glass? I’m fascinated with the transparency and obsessed with the variation of the vivid colors and texture of the glass, giving my creativity free reign. It evokes in me Venice, my favorite city in the world. In my work the composition of colours comes before the forms.

What was the transition like from artistic passion to professional work?

 

It is funny because I started more than 20 years ago giving advice to interior designers about the right choice of colors. It is a very gradual/organic way, aesthetic questions have always been very important to me, in terms of decoration or fashion, just like art, visiting museums all over Europe, loving as much the masters of the Italian Renaissance as the contemporary art. I think that my brain has accumulated so many images that now I must use this wealth in my daily work. It gives me the chance to celebrate curiosity & exploration. And going back to my love of the Venetian glass, once more this city is also the place where I discovered so many artists in the Biennale of contemporary art. I will always remember the strong emotion I felt when I saw the work of Sean Scully in Santa Maria Maggiore. I can’t compare for sure, but just it helps me to choose a new way for me combining arts and craft, working with my hands, and imagining with my souvenirs.

How has been to work and develop your profession in Barcelona? 

 

Barcelona is a dream coming true, since I was born in Casablanca and raised in a very tiny village in Lerida, Spain. Moving to Barcelona was the birth of my cultural education. I had the chance to live for 2 years in La Pedrera of Gaudi. There you really feel you are linked, connected with the city, its traditions, its history. Barcelona has become my natural home. Having my workspace in the neighbourhood of Gracia, I feel like working in a village. Everything is so easy and friendly in this “barrio.” Working here is a privilege. Barcelona grew in my heart, but my work gave me the opportunity to discover and also love Paris and London.

How would you describe your artistic practice?

I think that in all the creative process, the main difficulty is to imagine the transition between your ideas and the making. For me as I said, it starts with the choice of the colours, mixing them together, choosing the proportions of each one. It’s a dance between craftsmanship and art, innovative forms where a wealth of traditional Savoir Faire meets my contemporary universe. It's an integration of old and new. Each of my projects are an ongoing conversation between glass and colour. Where the constant are my hands that are always present. I want to create this kind of dream that you want to have; it’s a feeling.

What kind of energy do you try to cultivate in your studio space?

 My studio is a secret peaceful place. The natural day light is important, and the patio allows me to test my work outside on the ground floor. The energy comes also from my music. Mosaic and music are twins in my universe. I can work with Baroque music and finish the day with electro or jazz. Time has no limit in my space, I can work 15 hours a day when I am totally involved in a new project. This is for me the energy that I can find in my studio.

How does your workspace reflect you?

I can’t make the work if I don’t have a mess, my workspace is like my brain. A sacred perfect chaos and sometimes I need to do a big cleaning, like a new beginning. The mood board on the wall is, may be, what reflects me the most. I am a paper addict and I select the photos in the magazines, like a teenager on my wall.

What attracted you to the bold colours and graphic, geometric shapes used in your mosaics?

For me color is emotion before anything else, I need something very powerful that can touch my soul and my eyes, colour has that power on me. Maybe this attraction to bold colors comes from my childhood in Casablanca where I spent my first 12 years, strong colors, beautiful light, smells. And maybe geometric shapes also with my naive child drawings, simple geometric shapes. Arriving in Barcelona at 18 I was admiring the simplicity of Miro painting in his Foundation. Later I found in Klimt backgrounds so many ideas that I realised the infinity of possibilities and Niki de Saint Phalle showed me the way as a woman to work with my hands and impose my strong primary colors.

I love to create a visual shock creating contradictions and harmony at the same time.

 

What values do you consider important in your work with creating mosaics?

 

My values come from trusting the process. First it’s important to be able to follow the whole process, from the creation, the manufacturing in my studio and the final fixing on site. I touch every step of the process. Precision, patience, and explaining my work to the people who help me during this process.

Connection to KM by LANGE?

We met at Muses of now, both in creative field, different way, both craft women , admiration for Kati´s personality , deep person. I love her work and I love her for her strength, her generosity, she is like a model for me. I admire her talent and the elegant simplicity of her dresses. I was so proud to wear this white ensemble at Venice once again, Biennale of Cinema last year. Timeliness of the brand. 

 

What do you hope to do in the future?

To be able to meet new people, new projects all over the world . My mosaic work gives me the opportunity to travel and to discover beautiful places. My next dream would be to work more in the States. Keep my freedom and my independence, which for me has no price. My dream is also to always remember where I come from and to realise that my passion is also a huge privilege in my life.

How can we support women run businesses?

I think that we are at a turning point in our western societies. It's also important to define the position of privilege we’re in, but as a woman I must not forget that even simple education is not allowed to my sisters in other countries. It’s an opportunity for all of us to rethink how we want to experience the world, transforming the old models of passive female interiority into a collective, radically empathetic action. In the West as a woman, I feel that today we have more visibility than ever. So many successful women artists. We should keep celebrating that.

Recommendations:

MOVIE: Anette by Leos Carax.

BOOK: EL MUSEO DE LA INOCENCIA by Orhan Pamuk

Music: ALBUM SOL by TÉO

Kati Lanhe