Bio - Joe Rafla

Bio
Joe Rafla

I have had a life-long romance with clay, and fortunately I continue to find it an engaging material for the foundation of a creative and technical studio practice.

I started working with clay in the studio some years after graduating civil engineering school at BCIT; it was a natural extension of my specialization and field work as a geotechnologist on tunnels, railway lines, and hydro towers. I was very fortunate to apprentice for three years with a seasoned production potter (in the best sense of the term) named D'Arcy Margesson, also professor of clay and glaze technology at Emily Carr University. His work ethic, knowledge of glazes and clay-bodies, as well as his generosity were invaluable at many stages of my development.

I then started The Blue Nile Tile & Pottery Co. in east Van, which became Architext Ceramica; both were production and training studios on Granville Island, Vancouver, B.C.

I have an MA in digital humanities from McGill University which has led to an interest in the humanistic potential of 3D ceramic printing (CLAYBOTS), and its intersection with clay-body compositions.

I have opened a new studio, FabArgile, here in Montréal, The work on this site represents 30 years of making. My current work draws on all of my previous experience.