From Hollywood to the Potter's Wheel: Q+A with Elizabeth Di Prinzio

Written ByMercey Livingston, Editor at Equinox

Date

08.22.23 More info+

"It's meditation with your eyes open and your hands moving."

Hollywood actress and film producer Elizabeth Di Prinzio was looking for some peace in her fast-paced life when she found pottery. "When you're on the wheel, it feels as if the world stops spinning just for you," says Di Prinzio. "A few months later, I knew that this hobby had become more — it had become a source of tranquility and expression in my bustling city life."

Soon, Di Prinizio decided to leave her high-powered Hollywood life behind and pursue her dreams of being an artisan. "It was time to follow my heart and create a life that aligned with my true calling. It was the best decision I've made," she says. In 2015, she founded Earth + Element, a Los Angeles-based pottery studio where she now employs several female ceramic artists who hand-throw and craft her line of modern rustic-style tableware and functional ceramic pieces. "The idea of creating pieces that bring joy to someone's everyday life brings me a lot of happiness," she adds.

Below, Di Prinzio shares more about her creative process, her inspiration, and how she manages the physical demands of her craft.

"The idea of creating pieces that bring joy to someone's everyday life brings me a lot of happiness."

Q. What inspires your work? Do you have a creative process when you develop new designs or pieces?

"Some people sketch their ideas out, but mine are already fully formed in my mind before I even start. I visually see it finished before I've even begun. The next step is to just get my hands to collaborate with my visuals and let them dance together. Intuition then comes into play to let my hands create a tangible piece. Then I take a look at the final piece and refine and revise it over a few months until I really love every inch of it. But then there are other times when I'll jump on the wheel with no plan and let my hands do whatever they want to do. This creative process is a combination of a strong sense of direction with an openness to exploration."

Q. Is there something about pottery that makes you feel more centered, balanced, or present? Would you describe the practice as meditative?

"It's exactly that. It's meditation with your eyes open and your hands moving. The outside world no longer exists and you find yourself lost for hours. You're fully in the moment lost in the rhythms of your hands shaping clay. When you're working with the earth's elements, you feel centered, humbled, and grounded. The versatility of clay allows you to create right then and there, and you feel really accomplished when you take a step back and witness your progress."

Q. Working on the wheel, along with many other aspects of this trade, can be physically demanding. How do you recover and keep your body pain-free?

"After a few years, you build a lot of muscle in places you didn't know you could. I've developed that ‘old man strength’ just in my fingers. Throwing 10 pounds of clay will do that. You use every single ounce of strength you have from your back to your fingertip. That's what's required to make big things. It's important to take time off and let your body recover through rest or massage, but it's just as important not to stop moving your body. This type of trade is like a language, you need to use a little bit of it every day to keep your skills sharp. I've also always enjoyed working out a few days a week."

Q. Do you have an exercise or workout you do that helps you mentally or physically with your work or life in general?

"The best way for me to stay motivated is to keep it fun and new. From the treadmill to a spin class, yoga, or jump rope, I mix it up a few days a week. Going to the gym is another place we use to escape from the outside world to find peace and gather our thoughts."

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