BEHIND THE BRAND: RIMA SOBH OF RIVER OF CERAMICS

It was actually by recommendation of a friend that I took my first ceramics class. I had tried a few different creative outlets but hadn't found the right one that really clicked with my heart. I always felt there was this distance I couldn't 'put my finger on'. It wasn't until I found ceramics that my creativity connected with an art form. I was enthralled immediately, the way the clay felt in my hands, how I was able to push and pull and feel my vision coming to life.

From there, every single day for a year I spent some time in the studio. I found myself lost in thought in the moments I wasn't creating, my partner waving in front of my dazed gaze. My life has been forever changed since that first day, and I often wonder what it would look like had I not taken another chance at something new, another chance on myself.

I have always had a fascination with faces, the emotion they hold, or the lack of it in its dream-like state. So I wanted to create something that encapsulated a feeling of ethereal peace, an untouchable distance, but in a simple form that felt universal. Through the face I have explored many different forms and techniques that have expanded my knowledge and continue to challenge and fascinate me.

Piecing my studio together bit by bit over the years started with good intention, but little thought. As it's grown so has the chaos, so it felt like time for a refresh. And the breath of fresh air that it's been since has made just being in the space inspiring.

It's through both that I have learned to let all sense of control go and take the ebb and flow as it comes. I try to give in and have peace with the fact that the balance is rarely exactly right. Sometimes motherhood is all consuming (agh, those endless sick days of toddlerhood have tested me), but then days where I feel like the tasks of running a business bleed into time being with my daughter, I promise to not let it happen again. I try not to rush either any more. Remind myself toddlers don't run on grown up, made up timelines. Same with collections. They finish when they feel right and ready to release.

Your next collections are focused on 'light,' including your first collection of lamps. What sparked this new direction, and what does 'light' mean to you in your work?

I'm holding on to light dearly these days, to let it guide me forward in these darker times. There are so many different paths to follow at any given time in one's world, and right now, that's the way I want to keep moving. There is a tomorrow, and I want to follow the path towards warmth and goodness and light. So I'm intertwining those feelings and hopes into my work. It's fascinating how light can play and transform even clay.

Learning to let go of control has helped me weave a practice in motherhood and business that I am incredibly proud of, for both myself and for my daughter to witness. I tried to make sure neither bleed into each other, keeping strict hours for both, but it's been the moments that I've allowed them to intermingle that have felt the most special.

Taking my daughter on supply trips, to markets, seeing her interact with people I've been blessed to know through my journey, have her intertwined in another supportive community, it's important to me now in a way I never expected. Navigating motherhood while also running a business is incredibly stressful and things aren't easy, but I think how lucky I am, how incredible these memories will be to look back on for us both, the lessons, the friendships. I remind myself as often as I can just how incredibly blessed I am to be living this life I dreamed of.

Finally growing out of the 'testing everything by putting it in my mouth' phase has been such a big relief, and is opening that door slowly. I can't wait for all the things we'll create together, what she'll teach me in all those moments I think I'm teaching her.  

Community. Knowing the stories and faces behind the items you hold dear in your home and family brings such warmth and love to everyday living, the feeling is incomparable. I hope that's what people feel when they hold my ceramics, the passion in every piece, that it radiates into their everyday rituals and routines and keep them in good company. Every time we choose to support and celebrate slow living, quality crafted goods, we are building a community around us that is strong and vibrant, a legacy for the generation of tomorrow to be proud of.

I try to see the creativity and play in every day tasks and involve her in as much of it as she'll allow. The mixing of eggs, the folding of laundry, all these rituals have their own sense of creativity and heritage all their own. How my mother did those things with her mother, how I do them with my daughter now. I love to be amongst people and places, witnessing the differences, complexities of it all, but how for a single moment they all sit together. No two moments are ever the same, it's all ever flowing like the river. And the river, it's our favourite place to be.

Reach out. Reach out to the communities around you because there is so much good in them that can change your life forever. You can choose how deeply you let it in, whether you dive in deep or witness it as a wallflower, it will affect you in unpredictable ways. Reach out and try something new with no expectations of how it will lead you. And if, and when, that door closes, reach out for another. There are moments of stillness, some that last for so so long, but when we stop waiting for things to change and take even the smallest step to changing them ourselves, your world gets bigger and so do the opportunities to build a different tomorrow.

If this chapter in my life ends tomorrow, I have such immense pride for all I've done. For every chance I took, for every step towards growth. I look back at myself at the beginning of this journey with such fondness for her tenacity through the fear and uncertainty.

Being an artist and business owner has allowed me to create a life and live in it, with all its lessons, with all its ebbs and flows. It has taught me so much of who I want to be and the life I want to live, for myself and for my daughter.



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Rima wears our Meadow Zip Cardigan / Her daughter wears Cabane pieces Take Care Top, Schoolhouse Tee & Resort Pant

You can follow her work through Instagram & her website

Photography by Jo Concetta