"Casa Alfarera's persistent effort to deliver Dominican stoneware of the best quality is present in every piece."
Casa Alfarera Santo Domingo is a stoneware workshop located in the Colonial City of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. It was founded in 2013 by ceramist Ysabela Molini. The workshop is composed of a team of Dominican potters and artisans who have been in the trade for over twenty years. Since 2017, the team has grown with the addition of amateur potters and apprentices in an effort to help preserve the craft of pottery in the Dominican Republic.
"We produce utilitarian ceramics in series including: tabletop, planters, ceramics for architectural adaptation, ceramic furniture, lighting, and one of a kind pieces. In addition to producing wares of our design, a large part of our production is by special order in collaboration with our clients. Our clients include chefs, architects, interior designers, landscape architects, and hotels.
We prospect the majority of our raw materials in the Dominican Republic and process them in our workshop in the Colonial City of Santo Domingo. An important part of our process is analyzing the characteristics of our prospected minerals, and understanding the behavior of our clay bodies. Our glaze repertory includes recipes of our own creation, recipes adopted from mentors and ceramic scholars, and commercial glazes. Our wares are thrown on the potter's wheel, hand built, and mold pressed. Our firing temperatures reach 1,250 degrees Celcius."
About Ysabela Molini
Ysabela is a graduate in Art History from Pratt Institute, New York where she did extensive studies in practical ceramics, cultural, and visual studies. She is currently a candidate for an MA in Design History and Curatorial Studies from Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum and the New School, New York. Since 2010, Ysabela has collaborated with a number of cultural and design publications, and has served as a faculty member at Chavon la Escuela de Diseño intermittently since 2010. She also serves as a lecturer for Midway Design School in Madrid, Spain, and is a Fellow in the Education Department at Copper Hewitt Design Museum, New York.