Form and Spirit

L a u r a d e G r i n y o

Ibiza 0 6 . 1 2 . 2 5 – 1 8 . 0 1 . 2 5

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@parraromero i n f o @ p a r r a - r o m e r o . c o m

P a r r a & R o m e r o © 2 0 2 6 A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D

Parra & Romero is pleased to present the first solo show of the artist Laura de Grinyo at our Ibiza space, curated by Alejandra Navarro.

Laura de Grinyo (Ibiza, 1989) has always been involved in the world of crafts and design. In 2020, under her brand LADIO, she began developing a series of handcrafted pieces that combine her design knowledge with the pottery tradition of the island of Ibiza. In the very process of creating her clay pieces, Laura noticed that each object has its own voice, a sound that can emerge from something as simple as blowing on its surface to remove dust. This almost anecdotal discovery, combined with her musical training in theremin and the importance that music has always had in her life, led her to shift her ceramic practice towards a more sensitive territory, developing a series of sound sculptures in which clay is transformed to reclaim its touch and sound.

In Form and Spirit, Laura de Grinyo presents a collection of sculptures created from a mixture of clays. Many of these clays are chosen for their direct connection to the artist’s own experiences, such as the wild clay native to the island where she was born, or the clay from Bisbal, Catalonia, where she received part of her training as a potter and where some of her family roots lie. These materials, always of natural origin, are carefully selected and worked to achieve different finishes and textures, such as the mixture of terracotta with terra sigillata patinas and engobes from the island’s wild soils; the burnishing with quartz that helps to obtain a more satin and vitrified effect; or the Japanese nerikomi technique that she uses to mix different colors of stoneware to acquire optical patterns, always inspired by botanical studies and the earth itself as a material and source of life: “We are earth and we return to it.”

The exhibition brings together different types of sound sculptures/aerophones that recall wind instruments from a previous period, as if they were archaeological finds from a primitive society, but which are conceived from a contemporary perspective in which design acquires great relevance. Behind each piece there is a creative process involving extensive research. Among the pieces on display we can distinguish: tubular sculptures, which can be vertical (those most similar to a traditional flute), transversal or harmonic, with a wide range of possibilities depending on the intensity and rhythm of the breath; globular sculptures, in which a more or less spherical closed cavity opens up, allowing air to enter directly into the resonance chamber; double flutes, which end in two parallel channels that sound at the same time or are connected to each other; and hybrid flutes, which combine different types of flutes and even air percussion. Each sculpture generates a unique sound that varies with the travel of the wave.

Her sound sculptures are designed so that the person who activates them generates a one-to-one relationship with the piece. Through an exercise as simple as breathing through these objects, one enters into a kind of internal prayer through intuition and frequency, which leads us to reconnect with the immediate: “sound brings us back to the present.”

Although Laura de Grinyo’s sculptures are designed for this intimate activation, they can also be played at concerts or used as a tool to embark on a sound journey that invites us to reflect, almost in a therapeutic way. The projected sound acts as an almost ritualistic frequency that raises a prayer to the outside world but also to one’s inner self, as a form of introspection. Some pieces produce sounds that may remind us of a Gregorian chant and seem to simulate several voices singing in unison, while others are in the Phrygian or Lydian scales, bringing us closer to sounds that evoke those of different ancient cultures. Many of these sculptures are designed so that the person activating them can rest the resonance chamber on their body, becoming an extension of it and intensifying its vibration.

But this ritualistic significance is not only linked to when the pieces are activated, it is present throughout the entire production process: from the moment the clays are mixed, the molding of the clay, or the waiting time while the oven finishes baking the pieces. In an age where everything is becoming digital and fast- paced, Laura de Grinyo focuses her intention on valuing the process, honoring nature and the resources she acquires from it, vindicating the object and its physical materiality, and listening actively but slowly, so that only through silence can sound be reached.

Laura de Grinyo lives and works in Ibiza. Her work and personal brand LADIO have been featured in major national and international media such as: AD España, Financial Times’ HTSI, Arquitectura y Diseño, El País Semanal, Vanity Fair Italy, Manera Magazine, Vogue Living, Hola Living, Monocle, and Elle USA Interior, among others.

Her pieces have been included in events and exhibitions such as: LDR22, Milan, 2024; Espacio Réplica, Madrid, 2024; Ibiza CAN Art Fair, Ibiza, 2024; El Gozo (curated by Sarah Suco Torres and Nicolás Dewavrin), 8 Rue Chapon, Paris, 2023; Inteligencia Natural (curated by Blanca Alvear Álvarez de Toledo), ACdO, Madrid, 2023; Into the Blue: 1000 Vases, Milan Design Week, Fondazione Sozzani, Milan, 2023; Paris Design Week, 2023; Taula 01 (curated by Ángeles Ferragut), Ses12Naus, Ibiza, 2022; Loewe Paula’s Ibiza pop up, Harrods, London, 2021; 1000 Vases (curated by Hervé Sauvage), Milan Design Week, Superstudio Più, Milan, 2021; Ibiza Rosso Corsa, The Dimanche Gallery (curated by Andrea Dalmas), Geneva, Switzerland, 2021.

The artist would like to express her gratitude for their special collaboration and support to: Adrián Ribas, Ellie Sparrow, Eva Prats, Georgia Taglietti, Guillermo Romero, Héctor Koa, Ivan Levasseur, Jeremy Perret, Marzio Arico, Matteo Bonifazio, Noah Yalou, Paloma Tell, Samia, Santiago Ferreirós, Semira Francis, Tasya Menaker, Victor Estrada and Vito Di Rosa.