Storka Bowl
Low, Open Bowl for Sharing
Handmade by Chmissa in Sejnane, the Storka Bowl combines low walls with a broad opening for dishes shared around the table. A long-legged bird occupies its warm-toned interior, surrounded by narrow circular lines and a dark outer rim.
- Maker: Chmissa
- Origin: Sejnane, northern Tunisia
- Object: Low, open shared bowl
- Diameter: Approximately 27 cm
- Method: Built and decorated directly by hand without a potter’s wheel
- Surface: One long-legged bird, circular line borders and a dark outer rim
- Variation: Dimensions, openness, markings and surface tone may differ between handmade pieces
Storka is a low, open bowl intended principally for dishes shared around the table.
Its broad base and restrained wall height keep the contents visible and accessible from several positions. The form provides more containment than a flat plate without creating the depth of an individual meal bowl.
Storka and Zephyr are both approximately 27 centimetres across, but their structures lead to different roles. Storka opens outward and supports collective access. Zephyr rises more deeply around its contents and is intended principally as an individual bowl.
Within the four-piece collection, Storka is the primary shared bowl and a natural companion to the larger Hout Plate.
One long-legged bird stands at the centre of the Storka Bowl. Black linear markings describe its body, neck, legs and internally divided wing.
Several narrow circular lines surround the bird before the surface reaches a dark outer rim. The restrained composition leaves much of the warm light interior visible.
Because Chmissa draws the surface by hand, the bird’s proportions, the division of its wing, the spacing of the surrounding lines and the width of the rim may vary.
The bird belongs to the wider set of animals and familiar forms that appear in Chmissa’s pottery. It should not be assigned a particular species or fixed symbolic meaning without direct documentation.
Chmissa personally makes every Storka Bowl in Sejnane.
She learned pottery by watching her mother when she was young. The practice entered her life through observation and participation until she found herself carrying it out naturally.
Chmissa works through the complete production cycle, from gathering and preparing clay to forming, marking, drying and firing each object. She usually works outside around her home rather than in a conventional studio.
Her daughter sometimes assists with physically demanding stages, while her grandchildren enjoy playing nearby. Storka’s open profile and individually drawn bird emerge from Chmissa’s decisions within that living working environment.
Storka belongs to the women-led pottery tradition of Sejnane. Its walls are raised directly by hand without the continuous rotation of a potter’s wheel.
The bowl participates in a shared knowledge system involving clay preparation, direct forming, surface treatment, drying and firing. At the same time, its low profile, central bird and dark rim belong to Chmissa’s individual visual and functional practice.
The tradition supplies a body of knowledge; it does not erase the maker.
Each Storka Bowl will carry evidence of hand-building and hand-drawn decoration.
Differences may appear in its diameter, wall height, degree of openness, rim alignment, bird proportions, line spacing and surface tone. These are natural distinctions between objects made individually rather than mechanically reproduced.
Such variation remains separate from cracks affecting stability, sharp breaks or damage caused during delivery. Those conditions should be reported through Customer Care.
Follow the verified guidance supplied for the bowl, especially where heat, appliances, liquids or prolonged soaking are concerned.
Understand Handmade Ceramic Variation
Combine Storka’s low shared bowl with the collection’s largest plate for a complementary pair of table-centre forms.
See how individual and shared forms can be combined without requiring every piece to match mechanically.
Explore Ceramic Dinnerware Sets
Compare Storka with the three other functional forms made by Chmissa.
Explore Artisan Ceramic Tableware