An array of colored ceramic tiles in rows.
Color Field

October 10, 2022

Words: Georgina McWhirter

Makers from Guadalajara and New York Collaborate on Satin-Glazed Ceramics

In 2018, José Noé Suro of Cerámica Suro, a leading ceramics workshop in Mexico, was visiting New York when he stumbled upon a line gathered outside a factory building. It led him into a pottery sale, where he met ceramicist and photographer Helen Levi. Talks of a collaboration between the Guadalajara maker and Queens-based New York native began shortly thereafter. The resulting satin-glazed earthenware series consists of two tile groupings. Hand-painted 3 ½-square-inch Color Field is like mini abstract-art canvases, while the solid Corduroy, in 3 ½- or 4 ½-square sizes, recalls its namesake fabric. Proof of the tiles’ desirability? Peach Color Fields have just been installed at the latest outpost of woman-owned brewery Talea Beer Co. in Williamsburg.

A cream tile with a linear pattern.
A tile with light blue and dark green patterns against a white base.
A red and pink tile.
A tile in dark gray with linear patterns.
A dark orange and deep blue tile.
A black tile with a linear pattern.
A yellow and light green tile.
Helen Levi and José Noé Suro
Helen Levi and José Noé Suro
A bench constructed of white and sea green Corduroy tiles.
Corduroy
collection of colorful ceramic tiles

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