About — Benedetta Pompili

Design research & ceramics

Dust, Rehearsed

Benedetta Pompili is a social designer interested in the cultural and political meanings behind the craftsmanship of ceramics. By composing each clay body or glaze from scratch, each project aims at delineating ways of coping with tradition and its ecosystem.

Urban and industrial remnants costantly recur in the work. Their incorporation becomes a tool to investigate on their ambiguous status, circulation and alternative possibilities to diminish the impact of the industry.

At the core of her practice lies an interest in daily repeated gestures and in process as a form of knowledge. This extends beyond objects into the design of shared workspaces. They are intendend as environments that support exchange and collaboration.

CV & studio details

About

After my BA studies in industrial design and ceramics at ISIA Faenza (IT), I urged to design with a direct connection to craft. During my MA in Social Design at Design Academy Eindhoven (NL) I experimented towards this end, until my graduation project Conversing with matter, nominated for the 2021 Gijs Bakker Prize. In 2022, I became tech-fellow at Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, motivated to dive further into the ceramic medium. Since then, I focus on site specific commissions combining research and circular production.
Alongside my private studio path, I enjoy sharing my findings and knowledge as a workshop specialist in the ceramic workshop of Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, as founder of vuur collective and as a mentor of the ceramic focus at Design Academy Eindhoven.

Education

MA, Social Design, Design Academy Eindhoven (NL), 2019–2021.
Erasmus, Peter Behrens School of Architecture and Design, Düsseldorf (DE), 2017.
BA, Industrial Design & Ceramics, cum laude, ISIA Faenza (IT), 2014–2018.

Ongoing positions

Mentor & lecturer, Design Academy Eindhoven (NL), started in August 2025.
Founder & designer, vuur collective, Amsterdam (NL), started in October 2024.
Ceramic specialist, Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam (NL), started in 2023.
Mentor & lecturer, The Material Way (DK), started in January 2023.

Previous academic roles & residencies

Designer in residency, Creative Residency Arita (JP), January–March 2024.
Fellow Researcher, LINA x TU Wien (AT), October 2023–August 2024.
Ceramic workshop specialist, KABK, The Hague (NL), January–August 2023.
Techfellow, Rijskakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam (NL), January–December 2022.
Resident, ekwc (NL), January–April 2021.

Full CV upon request.

Selected shows

Conversing with Matter, Circolo del Design, Torino (IT), October 2026–January 2027.
Already Afterwards, Princessehof National Ceramic Museum (NL), November 2025–November 2026.
LE SERE, Bucharest Design Week, FABER (RO), May–June 2026.
Conversing with Matter, Arts of the Earth, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (ES), December 2025–May 2026.
LE SERE, Design Signals, FABER (RO), September 2025–February 2026.
REDUX, Lisbon Triennale 2025, October 2025–January 2026.
Glaze developed for Ola Hassanain’s The Watcher, Kunstinstituut Melly, May–September 2025.
Conversing with Matter, WaterSpiegelingen, Cuyperhuis (NL), June 2024–March 2025.
RAW.obj, Pioneers in Ceramics, Prinsenhof Museum Delft (NL), February–June 2024.
Conversing with Matter, Princessehof Ceramic Museum (NL), Nov 2023–2024.
In Presence of Your Absence + RAW.obj, Open Studios, Rijkskademie (NL), 2024.
In Presence of Your Absence, Hong Kong Design Institute (CH), January–May 2024.
In Presence of Your Absence, ADI Design Museum, Milan (IT), 2023.
In Presence of Your Absence, Material District, Utrecht (NL), 2023.
Vestiges, Alcova, Milan Design Week, Fuorisalone, Milan (IT), 2023.
Raw.obj, Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten (NL), 2022.
SPAZIO 1/2, Drop City, Fuorisalone, Milano (IT), 2022.
Ciona Are Doing Well, SVA Bio Art Lab, New York, 2022.
Conversing with Matter, DAE75!, Fuorisalone, Milano (IT), 2022.
Conversing with Matter, Rethinking Plastic, Yksi Expo , Eindhoven (NL), 2022.
Conversing with Matter, Design Fest Gent, Design Museum (BE), 2022.
Conversing with Matter, From the Ground Up, Material Source Studio (UK), 2022.
Conversing with Matter, Design Open, Kazerne, Eindhoven (NL), 2021–2022.
Conversing with Matter, DDW2021, DAE Graduation Show, Eindhoven (NL).
Ciona Are Doing Well, Interspecies Futures, NY Center for Book Arts, 2020.

Press & publications

Sustainable Ceramics, Metropolism, 2026.
Arts of the Earth, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, e-flux, 2025.
Water Works Ecosocial design, Valiz, October 2025.
(w)aardewerk, Volkskrant, October 2024.
Schnitt Magazine, Issue 02: Craftmanship, September 2024.
Raw.obj, Pioneering Ceramics, June 2024.
Conversing with Matter, Design Unlimited Turkey, October 2023.
In Presence of Your Absence, Italy: a new collective landscape, Mousse Magazine Ed., 2023.
Conversing with Matter , DAMN Magazine, Issue N° 82, June 2022.
Conversing with Matter, Plural Magazine, 2022.
Conversing with Matter, Elementa Oslo, 2022.
Conversing with Matter, Het Financieele Dagblad, Culture section, 2021.
Conversing with Matter, Wallpaper Magazine, 2021.
Ciona Are Doing Well , Design Parallax, MDFF Greece, 2020.

Previous collaborators

Winnie Herbstein, Ola Hassanain, Domenico Mangano and Marieke vaan Roy, Bruno Baietto, LINA, TU Wien, Hannah Segerkrantz, Design Signals, Drop City, Frantoio Sociale, Schnitt Magazine, Paradiso Amsterdam, Craft Council Netherlands, among others.

Studio details

KvK 84375779
Van der Hoopstraat 91H, 1051VD, Amsterdam (NL)

For information or collaborations: info@benedettapompili.com

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