Osloleire

Photo: Chris Aanvik

Osloleire (meaning Osloclay) is a wish to utilise a local resource, often treated as waste, to make everyday products that can be used by the city's inhabitants in their daily life. The duo behind Osloleire is ceramicist Tonje Paus and designer Bobby Petersen. Coming from different backgrounds they share a desire to convert this material into beautiful and functional objects.

Each year tons of clay from construction sites is sent out of Oslo to give space for new building projects. Otherwise destined for landfill, Osloleire diverts some of this resource to their workshop in Oslo, creating local, sustainable and handmade products. In this way Osloleire hopes to limit a beautiful material being treated as waste while bringing awareness to an otherwise overlooked local resource. 

Buy objects from Osloleire

Tonje Paus trained as a ceramicist in Barcelona, Spain before completing her degree in ceramics at Oslo National Academy of the Arts. 

Developing her craft through throwing, modelling, and slip casting primarily with porcelain, the natural clay from Oslo posed a completely different set of challenges. Through trial and error Tonje has become well acquainted with this clay, pushing it to its limits and getting to know all of its quirks and varieties. 

Bobby Petersen graduated from Design Products at The Royal College of Art before setting up an architectural design studio with his colleague Tom Gottelier. Together they run Petersen&Gottelier between Oslo and LA as well as a summer residency of Gotland, Sweden know as “Designers On Holiday”. Both practices rooted in creative collaboration and sustainability, core principles shared with Tonje and Osloleire.