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Julio Miranda Thiel's Workshop

I had the chance to visit master potter Julio Miranda Thiel's workshop at the Beldi Country Club just outside of Marrakech. I met Thiel at a dinner a few nights before and he graciously invited me out one morning to see how he marries traditional Moroccan craftsmanship—the town of Safi is the hub of the country's considerable ceramics trade and turns out loads of potters—with more modern forms. Thiel himself studied design in Chile and Argentina and told me that his education was "thoroughly modernist." Here's what I saw.

Slideshow Photo
Here's Thiel standing outside of his pise workshop. The structure itself is made of mud and straw and is astoundingly cool in the hot sun. Thiel has lived in Marrakech for decades.

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written by:
Aaron Britt
March 9, 2012

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