Vania R. Goncalves

I was born in Portugal in 1978 and began my career on a very different path—as a dentist. After graduating, I moved to London to build a life there, but it didn’t take long to realise that dentistry wasn’t where I truly belonged. I felt a deep need to create, to work with my hands in a way that allowed me to explore and express rather than fix and restore.
In 2017, I stumbled into ceramics through evening workshops I took after work. Those classes quickly became the highlight of my week, and before long, I joined a community ceramics studio where I spent every spare moment experimenting and learning.
When I returned to Portugal in 2019, I decided to follow this new path wholeheartedly, enrolling at Ar.Co (Centro de Arte e Comunicação Visual) for two years of formal training. Then, during the pandemic—and while expecting my second child—I took a leap, bought my first kiln, and set up a small studio so I could keep creating.
Since then, what began as a search for balance has grown into my life’s work. My sculptures, often incorporating raw and recycled materials, explore transformation and movement—echoing the shifts that brought me here. My pieces have been shown internationally, including at Lisbon by Design, Lisbon Design Week, and Dubai Design Week, and are part of both private and public collections, including the Taguspark Urban Art Museum.