Qeramika

Qeramika is the art and craft of making objects from ceramic materials by firing them at high temperatures. The term covers a broad field, including pottery, sculpture, tableware, tiles, and other objects formed from clay and related substances. In Albanian, qeramika refers to ceramics as a discipline and practice used in both traditional and contemporary contexts.

Key materials include earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain clays, each with different plasticity, color, and fired strength. Working processes include hand-building (pinch pots, coil building, slab construction), wheel throwing, and mold casting. After forming, objects are dried to a leather-hard or bone-dry stage, then fired to a maturation temperature in a kiln. Firing often begins with a bisque stage to remove moisture, followed by glaze firing to fuse glaze and body.

Surface treatments include slips and engobes, underglaze and overglaze decoration, slip trailing, sgraffito, and glaze layering. Glazes are glassy coatings that melt and fuse to the ceramic body during firing, contributing color, texture, and impermeability.

Historically, ceramics is one of the oldest human crafts, with developments across many cultures from early pottery in Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley to Chinese porcelain and Islamic tile work. In modern times, qeramika encompasses studio craft, industrial ceramics, and digital fabrication techniques, including ceramic 3D printing.

Today, qeramika is studied in art schools and universities, practiced by makers and designers, and used in architecture and product design. It intersects with material science, sustainability, and cultural heritage, while evolving through new tools, firing technologies, and contemporary artistic approaches.