Ceramics became increasingly important to Leslie while in university because she stopped visiting Mexico after high school. She was a full-time student with a part-time job and couldn’t find time to go back and visit her family. It made her want to connect more than ever and get back to that feeling of her roots. That’s the feeling that she got from working with clay. Clay reminded her of Mexico, walking through the tianguis, or markets, and seeing all the pottery and fresh produce. Her memories are also based around cooking and eating meals together. For Leslie, a molcajete, a traditional mortar and pestle, reminds her of her grandma’s kitchen. A molcajete is a statement piece in a Mexican kitchen. It’s iconic.

Colombian architect and ceramist Octavio Mendoza Morales sculpted a Cob-like home entirely out of local clay that is situated and integrated harmoniously with nature. The house was fired in parts at different stages to make the walls durable, transforming it into a solid structure without the need for beams to hold it in place. Casa Terracota is a two-story house in Villa de Leyva, Colombia, with a total size of 5,400 square feet, making it the largest piece of pottery in the world!