Adele Stefanelli ceramics are strongly influenced by Chinese and Korean ceramics which she first saw as a student while visiting the Baur collection in Geneva. She was also struck by the simple beauty of Sudanese pottery which she discovered in the Sudan while teaching English there.

 

The marvelous objects in the Victoria and Albert Museum and in the Shanghai Museum, the dozens of books she has collected from all over the world - on the different Chinese Dynasties, the Joseon Dynasty in Korea, on Japanese teapots and bowls - strongly marked her path. The perfect beauty of the Song ceramics fascinated her and became her guiding light.

 

She has spent time in China, Jingdezehn, watching and learning how they throw porcelain and has been to South Korea to work with Master Kim Se Yong and Master Lee Hyang Gu.

 

While in China, she had the opportunity to practice Kintsugi, the ancient Japanese technique of repairing broken ceramics with pure gold. She then went on to Kyoto, Japan, to attend Kintsugi private classes with Mio Heki to perfection this technique.

 

She works in different kinds of stoneware and in porcelain, which she then fires in her kiln in her studio at 1250° and above. She throws all of her objects on the wheel personally and she also makes her own glazes.