Oval wheel, Dark brown stoneware. Photo: Courtesy

From Pencil Line to Clay Volume, Clémentine Long Builds a Vocabulary of Her Own, Coil by Coil

PARIS — Ceramicist and designer Clémentine Long runs a Paris studio dedicated to the graphic exploration of clay, with pieces that have circulated through fairs and galleries in France, Belgium, and Denmark since 2024. Founded in 2022, the studio brings together author-driven series built by hand, layer after layer, a technique that turns two-dimensional drawing into three-dimensional volume.

Stoneware defines most of the work behind Core and Grid, the two series that currently anchor the studio’s output, both grown out of coiling, a traditional method of building with stacked ropes of clay. Results range from functional sculpture to gallery pieces.

Studio and Approach

Long herself describes the space she founded as a territory for experimentation, where each piece carries its own narrative. Research, she explains, centers on pushing materiality to its technical limits.

Everyday elements from the urban landscape, such as the handle, the grate, and the hole, serve as a starting point for much of the studio’s formal investigation. Each element is treated as an isolated study before becoming a finished object.

For the artist, two axes, sensibility and gesture, guide the search for new uses within her production. That balance explains why functional pieces and pieces meant for contemplation coexist without a declared hierarchy.

Core and Grid

A single graphic gesture, drawn directly from drawing itself, defines the Core series. Each piece rises by hand, layer upon layer, in a process that recalls the core of a flat surface, revealing the trace of the hand even within the regularity of a grid structure.

Satin white glaze marks the surface of the pieces, giving them the visual quality of an organic skeleton shaped over time. Nuanced texture like this is one of the most recognizable elements of the studio’s signature.

Grid lamps Open & Blown + Grid side table Satin white stoneware, electric components, porcelain bulb

Grid, meanwhile, proposes a mesh structure meant to investigate the thin line between art and design. According to the designer, the resulting volumes introduce a new typology of forms, articulated in a way that is both architectural and poetic.

Long_Grid Soufflée

Instinctive assembly is how the designer describes the process behind each piece: the rope of clay grows in a spiral, at a slow, precise rhythm that reproduces, in volume, the same gesture as a pencil line on paper.

Training and Path

Her initial training was in product design, later complemented by a specialization in ceramics. Combined, this explains the simultaneous attention she pays to form, function, and narrative in each piece she produces.

Since April 2024, the designer has held a residency with Terremoto Atelier, on Rue du Dessous des Berges in Paris’ 13th arrondissement, where part of her most recent work has been developed.

International Exhibition Circuit

Ten international shows or fairs have marked the studio’s recent trajectory between May 2024 and June 2026, spread across France, Belgium, and Denmark, in addition to the ongoing residency in Paris.

April brought two shows outside the French capital for Long this year. At SaloneSatellite, the section of Salone del Mobile dedicated to young designers, her work occupied stand E16 in pavilion 7 at the Rho Fiera rail hub in Milan, from April 21 to 26. Afterward, L’Oracle, a show resulting from a partnership between the Niche by Claude Cartier project and artist Jeremy Jaspers, featured pieces by the designer on Rue du Docteur Fanton in Arles, with the exhibition extended through June 13.

June brought two presentations in Paris. Group show Artisanes brought together work by Long, Laura Essayie, Lucie Laustriat, and Hanako Stubbe on Rue des Envierges in the 20th arrondissement, from June 5 to 7. Shortly before that, from June 10 to 12, pieces by the designer were featured in DEORON, a three-day event dedicated to contemporary design held on Paper Island, in the Holmen district of Copenhagen.

September 2025 also concentrated two appearances during Paris Design Week. At Galerie Joseph in the Marais, her work was included in the group show Paris Design Week Factory, while the collaborative exhibition “Compter les Nuages,” alongside ceramicist Camille Létoffé, took place at Galerie Six Elzévir.

Months later, in November of the same year, the designer returned to exhibit in Paris at the group show Terres Rêvées, joining pieces by Claudia Cauville, Gabrielle Lenoir, Camille Létoffé, and Constant Fazilleau on Rue Caffarelli in the third arrondissement.

Belgium hosted the studio’s work twice, in May 2024 and again in May 2025, when Long exhibited at Athena Clay Fair, an international ceramics fair held in Ghent and founded by the Lerry Ceramics and 019 collectives.

Closing out the circuit listed here, the traditional Paris Déco Off featured the ceramicist’s work in January 2025, at the showroom of textile brand Pierre Frey, with set design by Véronique Villaret, on Rue de Furstemberg in Saint-Germain-des-Prés.

Circuit Context

Fairs historically focused on furniture and industrial products, including SaloneSatellite and Salone del Mobile itself, have expanded space for craft-based and author-driven practices in recent years, helping explain the growing presence of ceramicists like Long at this type of event.

Direct collaborations with other designers mark a significant part of the artist’s path. Camille Létoffé, for example, appears alongside her in two separate shows, a sign of a shared working network among ceramicists of the same Parisian generation.

Instagram: clementine___long
Website: clementinelong.com