Laura de Grinyo has always been involved in the world of crafts and design. In 2020, under her brand LADIO, she began developing a series of handcrafted pieces that combine her design knowledge with the pottery tradition of the island of Ibiza. In the very process of creating her clay pieces, Laura noticed that each object has its own voice, a sound that can emerge from something as simple as blowing on its surface to remove dust. This almost anecdotal discovery, combined with her musical training in theremin and the importance that music has always had in her life, led her to shift her ceramic practice towards a more sensitive territory, developing a series of sound sculptures in which clay is transformed to reclaim its touch and sound.
In the exhibition Form and Spirit (2025) Laura de Grinyo presented a collection of sound sculptures / aerophones created from a mixture of clays. These materials, always of natural origin, are carefully selected and worked to achieve different finishes and textures, such as the mixture of terracotta with terra sigillata patinas and engobes from the island’s wild soils; the burnishing with quartz that helps to obtain a more satin and vitrified effect; or the Japanese nerikomi technique that she uses to mix different colors of stoneware to acquire optical patterns, always inspired by botanical studies and the earth itself as a material and source of life. Her sound sculptures recall wind instruments from a previous period, but which are conceived from a contemporary perspective in which design acquires great relevance. Behind each piece there is a creative process involving extensive research. Each sculpture generates a unique sound that varies with the travel of the wave.
Laura’s scuptures have a ritualistic significance not only linked to their sound, but to the entire production process: from the moment the clays are mixed, the molding of the clay, or the waiting time while the oven finishes baking the pieces. In an age where everything is becoming digital and fastpaced, Laura de Grinyo focuses her intention on valuing the process, honoring nature and the resources she acquires from it, vindicating the object and its physical materiality, and listening actively but slowly, so that only through silence can sound be reached.
Laura de Grinyo lives and works in Ibiza. Her work and personal brand LADIO have been featured in major national and international media such as: AD España, Financial Times’ HTSI, Arquitectura y Diseño, El País Semanal, Vanity Fair Italy, Manera Magazine, Vogue Living, Hola Living, Monocle, and Elle USA Interior, among others. Her pieces have been included in events and exhibitions such as: LDR22, Milan, 2024; Espacio Réplica, Madrid, 2024; Ibiza CAN Art Fair, Ibiza, 2024; El Gozo (curated by Sarah Suco Torres and Nicolás Dewavrin), 8 Rue Chapon, Paris, 2023; Inteligencia Natural (curated by Blanca Alvear Álvarez de Toledo), ACdO, Madrid, 2023; Into the Blue: 1000 Vases, Milan Design Week, Fondazione Sozzani, Milan, 2023; Paris Design Week, 2023; Taula 01 (curated by Ángeles Ferragut), Ses12Naus, Ibiza, 2022; Loewe Paula’s Ibiza pop up, Harrods, London, 2021; 1000 Vases (curated by Hervé Sauvage), Milan Design Week, Superstudio Più, Milan, 2021; Ibiza Rosso Corsa, The Dimanche Gallery (curated by Andrea Dalmas), Geneva, Switzerland, 2021.
