Through his craft training as a stove fitter and ceramist, Josef Wieser combines two professions that originally belonged together. He processes only self-dug clays and loams into masses with a distinctive character and lively appearance.

Using traditional techniques, Josef Wieser also fires with wood, among other methods in an Anagama kiln. The hearth and the pieces are in the same room, and due to the extremely high temperature – up to 1300° C – the ash reacts with the clay creating a natural glaze.

"The uniqueness of my ceramics already begins with the
selection of the clay types. Just as the clay is dug from the pit,
it arrives in my workshop."

It is only mixed with water and coarsely sieved; all natural accompanying minerals remain preserved. The slurries settle slowly until they mature over weeks in brick molds into a kneadable mass. Following centuries-old tradition, the clay is stored cool and moist for at least one year. Carefully kneaded by hand, Josef Wieser shapes the clay on the potter's wheel. Each vessel is thus individually and uniquely designed, then slowly dried and bisque fired at 900° C. For the glazes, exclusively rock flours and raw materials such as feldspar, quartz, chalk, and clay are used. In the second firing, this coating melts at a temperature of 1250° C.

"The Anagama kiln repeatedly produces pieces with unmistakable traces of
ash deposits, melted feldspar, and iron inclusions." We
are very pleased to represent Josef Wieser exclusively in Vienna.