Ordinary optimist studio
Is a charming duo composed of Bonifac and Alexandra.
The perks of covid
The first covid wave was the push factor that helped us create this studio in the first place. We had so much free time on our hands that we needed to find something that we could do to occupy ourselves. It urged us to start creating.
It started as a fun project and we didn't mean it to take such a turn. But when a lot of people started reaching out to us with an interest in purchasing our products, it was a nice surprise, almost overwhelming. However now we make more, and we think about it as a studio project.
Ordinary optimist studio was born from Bonifac MONujo wallets. He started the project years ago but never pushed it. The leather leftovers were just laying around everywhere so we started playing with sizes colours and adding straps to them. After summer, Alexandra started working with her former medium of ceramics. She began ceramic courses out of boredom last autumn. She attributes her exploration and evolution to her work in ceramics.
We started exploring clay and getting knowledge about the process as it is very intuitive and easy. That's what we like about it.
We don't want to limit ourselves only with ceramics as we would like to explore other materials. We do not have a specific goal to reach, and that is why it is so hard for us to define what we do.
Where does the optimism come from
Being involved in a process all the way through is extremely important to us. We try to do everything by hand. Once we want to create something we try to master it to the point where we can easily make it and produce it by ourselves so we don't need anyone else. Our favourite step in the creative process is where we get to craft the object itself.
But of course, there is a commercial side to it, with Instagram and all the presentation of the product -the writing, captioning, that's where Bonicaf steps in. Bonicaf is in charge of presenting the product.
We try to produce a product that will make our clients happy, as you get to use it daily, almost like a good book that can fill you. We brainstormed hundreds of names but, we knew the name had to represent our products and us in the best way possible, so we stuck with Ordinary optimist studio - Alex added that she is boldly optimistic.
We try to keep a signature colour palette of primarily bright warm colours that will bring positive vibes.
Lovely Raw Materials
Now we focused on the burning rituals. Mainly Alex is into it - I would call myself spiritual. It came from these rituals out of a need to have something for me. And I knew I had to make the incense holders as you can't buy pretty ones around here and as I was putting the incense sticks in my flowers, they started to die. I wanted to have a connection with the products, then being something that I can use on a daily basis. We also strive to keep the price as low as we can because we want people to buy it and use it.
There is still a lot for us to learn about ceramics and we are thinking about taking some more chemistry classes and learning about glaze. I would like to move it to a point where we actually can make the glaze ourselves. That's our plan for the near future.
There was some project Bonicaf wanted to do with shelves but... Nobody spoke about the shelves... We have nothing on those shelves... Bonifac kept his secret.
The soundtrack of your life
Bonifac: Wu-Tang and all of the 90's classic hip-hop and recently anything from jazz label Squama.
Alex: the soundtrack is constantly changing.