Objects, Experiments & Artefacts
Sculptures, Installations & Interactive Experiences

OEA — 1ONE A DAY: EXPERIMENTS
FROM ANTIGUA
 
Banana fibre, synthetic rope, tule, rattan and natural-dyed wool. 
2025



A series of daily material explorations created during an Artistic Residency in Antigua, Guatemala. Each piece reflects a response to the local landscape, colours, and Mayan heritage.

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OEA — 2TOTEM PIECES 
Rattan, raffia, wool, esparto grass,
and synthetic rope. 
2025

A series of tactile sculptural objects inspired by landscape, memory, and material. Through texture, weight, and subtle color, each piece translates a sense of place into form, inviting closeness and quiet attention. Rooted in craft and natural processes, the works hold atmosphere rather than function—revealing how land, time, and making leave their trace in matter.

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OEA — 3 
EROSION — N° 1

THE VESSEL “Foam Memory”
Stoneware, mineral glazes, oxides
Dimensions: 10x13x20cm
Kurinuki technique
2025 - 2026


This vessel reflects the surface textures formed where sea foam meets stone along the Mediterranean coast. Its porous cavities and softened edges echo the slow erosive action of saltwater against volcanic rock. By translating these natural processes into ceramic form, the work emphasises the quiet, persistent shaping of material over time.

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OEA — 4
EROSION — N° 2

THE LAMP “Cliff of Light”
Stoneware, carved ceramic base, mineral glazes, oxides, corn-leaf lampshade with integrated lighting
Dimensions: 14x14x40cm
Slabs technique
2025 - 2026


This piece draws from the eroded cavities characteristic of the cliffs in Cabo de Gata, where wind, salt, and waves gradually hollow the rock. The carved ceramic base echoes these geological formations through its textured, irregular surfaces.

Light originates in the lampshade and is diffused through layers of dried corn leaves, chosen for their natural translucency and visible fibre structure. When illuminated, the veins of the leaves resemble subtle sediment lines, offering an organic counterpoint to the ceramic base and underscoring the relationship between geological erosion and natural growth.

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OEA — 5
EROSION — N° 3

THE SLABS WALL “Layers of Time”
Stoneware slabs, layered slips and glazes, oxides, wall-mounted installation
Dimensions: 33x19 cm and 34x20 cm
Slabs technique + impressions
2025 - 2026


This installation consists of ceramic slabs arranged in a geological cross-section, aligned horizontally, creating two wall ceramic tapestries. 

Each piece captures a different aspect of coastal erosion: softened contours, worn cavities, and subtle variations in surface texture. Together, the slabs evoke the gradual accumulation and transformation of sediments along the Mediterranean shoreline, presenting erosion as a layered record of passing time.

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OEA — 6VOLCANOES
Sculptural rattan basketry
2025

A series of five sculptural rattan forms created during an artistic residency in Antigua, Guatemala. Suspended between strength and fragility, the works echo volcanic landscapes—hollow, circular, and quietly charged with tension.

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OEA — 7
SCULPTURAL CERAMICS 

Allegra Collection
Two ceramic & rattan pieces

2022

Allegra is a sculptural celebration of feminine strength, rhythm, and movement. Inspired by the expressive motion of flamenco skirts, the pieces unfold through curved ceramic bodies and woven rattan forms that appear to sway, expand, and breathe, capturing gesture in stillness.

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OEA — 8
SUMMER COLLECTED
Rattan, dried palm inflorescence, wild grass, leather, chain cane and upcycled fabric rope.
2026

Inspired by Mediterranean summers, coastal landscapes, and long walks to the beach, Summer Collected is a series of sculptural works that explore our impulse to hold on to what is fleeting while learning to let go of what lies beyond our control...

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OEA — 9
BOYA: DRIFT, GUIDE, DECAY
Rattan, rope, plaster, stones, mesh.
2025

Removed from the sea and stripped of its familiar function, a buoy becomes something else. Boya: Drift, Guide, Decay traces its transformation from an object of orientation and support into a fragile body shaped by weight, erosion, and surrender.

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ELENA VELA Studio
Bio
I am Elena Vela Rey, a Spanish–British artist and designer based in London. My practice brings together contemporary art, traditional craft, and design, shaped by over 17 years in advertising and branding in Madrid and London, alongside a lifelong commitment to making by hand.

Through sculptural objects, installations, weaving, and material experimentation, my work explores our relationship with material and place, and how these encounters shape memory, meaning, and belonging. A recurring tension lies between holding on and letting go, and our impulse to hold on to what is inherently changing, unpredictable, or beyond our control.

Material is both medium and language. Grasses escape woven forms, irregular fibres resist repetition, and organic matter dictates its own direction, creating tensions between structure and wildness, permanence and decay, control and surrender. Light, colour, texture, landscape, and memory connect these material experiences to place.

Participation and encounter are central to my practice. Through tactile objects and interactive installations, I invite viewers to move beyond observation and experience materials up close. Each work begins with my own ideas, memories, and associations, but its meaning is not fixed; viewers bring their own memories and associations, allowing new interpretations to emerge through each encounter.

Rooted in childhood making and developed through study, travel, and encounters with craft traditions across cultures, my practice draws on inherited techniques while moving beyond their traditional functions. I see making as a form of exchange: between hand and material, artist and viewer, personal memory and shared experience.





Email
Instagram


Material
LAB


Creative workshops inspired 
by material exploration
Rattan Basket Weaving Workshop
Hackney Wick, London
05.09.26  |  10.30 (3h 30m)

More Info +





Contemporary Fibre Sculptures Workshop
Hackney Wick, London
Upcoming  (2h 30m)

More Info +


Residencies
& International 
Programs
Art Residency at Casa Gracia
Antigua, Guatemala
June - August 2025

VAWAA
Penang, Malaysia
October 2022

Leather Goods Apprenticeship
Bangkok, Thailand
September - December 2017




Exhibitions
2026
Where Craft Lives
London Craft Week
Dilke House
 
2025
Craft Here, Craft Now!
London Craft Week
Dilke House




EducationMA Textiles 
RCA (Royal College of Art), London
September 2026

BA Art & Contemporary Craft
West Dean College, Sussex, UK
2024 - 2026

Art Direction for Fashion
Central Saint Martins
2019

BA Advertising and PR
San Pablo CEU University, Madrid, Spain
2002-2007




Teaching
Rattan Workshops 
Bento Class, London
2025 - Present   

Private Workshops at
David Collins Studio, London
2024

Mixed Media, Leather & Rattan Workshops
We Can Doo, London 
2024 - 2025      




Commissions,
Collabs &
Enquiries
Got an idea? A material? A wild thought?
Loose threads, half-formed ideas, or proper plans welcome. 

Let’s talk → evela.rey@gmail.com




London, United Kingdom

SSIE — 1
FRAGMENTS OF AWEN 
Rattan, raffia, wool, esparto grass, 
and synthetic rope. 
2025


Inspired by the Celtic concept of Awen, a flowing source of inspiration connecting land, spirit, and self, this project explores the energy of four resonant places: Cabo de Gata, Lanzarote, West Dean, and Cambodia. 

Memories of light, texture, and movement are translated into nine sculptural fragments...

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SSIE — 2
FRAGMENTS OF AWEN DOCUMENTARY
2025


This multimedia documentary unfolds Fragments of Awen as a sensory journey through place, material, and memory. Moving between Cabo de Gata, Lanzarote, West Dean, and Cambodia, the film traces how landscapes, craft, and lived experience converge into an interactive sculptural work. 

Rooted in the concept of Awen, it invites a quiet reflection on belonging, intuition, and the invisible forces that shape creative expression.







SSIE — 3
WHAT I LET YOU SEE
Wool, felt, sisal and rattan.
2026


What do we reveal to others, and what do we choose to keep hidden?

A site-responsive installation exploring perception, movement and embodied experience...


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©2026 Elena Vela ✺ Design, Art & Craft ✺