Lisa Novel is a Geneva-based artist whose practice brings together biomaterials, traditional ceramic techniques and an exploration of texture and organic form. Working with natural and biodegradable materials, she investigates how sculptural objects can emerge from a dialogue between inherited making practices and sustainable innovation.
She discovered ceramics through introductory workshops and developed her practice over more than a decade, undertaking further training in Switzerland and abroad. In 2019, she founded ICI Céramique Studio in Geneva, where she led workshops for adults and children and created functional and decorative objects. She ran the studio until December 2023.
During these years, Lisa began questioning the resources involved in ceramic production, particularly its consumption of water and electricity and the waste it generates. These reflections led her to establish Studio Novel in 2023 and develop a biodegradable material made from plant waste, which she shapes using traditional ceramic techniques.
Her sculptures celebrate roughness, irregularity and organic form. Inspired by wabi-sabi, she welcomes the unexpected qualities that emerge as the material dries. Fissures, uneven surfaces and changes in texture become part of each piece’s character. In her woven works, jute and fresh plant fibres introduce further possibilities for structure and transformation, with drying bringing changes in colour and shape.
In March 2026, she presented woven vessels and studies of surface texture in Wabi-sabi at Lab Paris. Her recent work includes sculptures made at Fondation Bruckner in July 2026 using biomaterial, jute and wood, alongside research into single-stem vessels. Across these explorations, Lisa considers the relationship between artistic gesture, the behaviour of natural materials and the passage of time.