Why Oriel Zinaburg is in the Design 100

Oriel Zinaburg trained in fine art at Jerusalem’s Bezalel Academy, then spent close to fifteen years working as an architect, specialising in marine design for the cruise industry. He set up his own ceramics studio in London in 2020, and that background hasn’t been left behind so much as folded in: his vessels are built from press moulds and hand-worked slabs, torn, folded and distorted while the clay still holds enough softness to record each decision.

The results read as a dialogue between control and accident — forms shaped by landscape and geological reference, and by a Japanese regard for beauty in irregularity, built by someone trained to think first in structure. His work has been shown through Cockpit Arts and galleries including Ting-Ying and Candida Stevens, and selected for Collect Open at the Crafts Council and Ceramic Art London, marking out a distinctly architectural voice within British studio ceramics.