Pascale Zintzen: Mother, multidisciplinary artist & founder of Oikos Estudio

My name is Pascale Zintzen, I live and work between Barcelona and El
Perelló, Spain. I am the founder of Oikos Estudio. I am multidisciplinary artist. I work with clay, painting and weaving. I was born in Belgim, and it is where I grew up. I moved out of Belgium when I was 27, and came back there briefly at the age of 34, before settling in Barcelona with my two kids.

Can you take us with you to the place where you grew up? The sights, the
smells, the noises?
I grew up in a very boring place, with a lot of rain, not much of nature, not many
colours. But I was lucky to grow up in a cool family, very close to my grand-
parents. I started to play piano at the age of 5, and would practice a lot.

How does your heritage/where you are from impact your work as an artist?

I would have relatively good freedom to decorate the house, paint walls, floors,
reform chairs and old furniture. On Sundays, we would go very often to the
antiques markets (the “brocante” in French), and other furniture vintage shops.  I loved to search for something not knowing what it is. Keep the eye curious, see
the potential of old things….

What elements of your upbringing and heritage do you incorporate into your
daily life?
I guess I like to have old furniture around me, that I find and fix. My kids know it
and have open eyes in antique markets of Barcelona or the street on the weekly
day when people can put out their old furniture for garbage.

What is the most important lesson your mother taught you?
Efforts bring reward.

What has been your creative journey so far?
I can’t say when it all started, as I have always been in a creative process
since I am a teenager. I would go almost every day to an artistic school next
to the “regular one”. There, I would learn painting, drawing and sculpture
during 6 years. When I turned 18 and had to choose what to do, I did not have
the guts yet to claim that I wanted to go to an artistic school, so I studied
archaeology and History of Art at the University. I adored my studies and the
antique aesthetic of domestic objects I learned during these years is certainly
key in my current creative vocabulary. I later also graduated in a traditional
upholstery school, where I learn the artisanal way of work, the joy of slow
manufacture, the concentration required by craftsmanship, and the beauty of
working in a workshop. When I finished that school, I also had had two
children in less than a year, and had to start to earn my life and find some
stability. I do work as an editor for Doctors without Borders, and while it takes
a lot of my time, it is still also mandatory for me as I live alone with two kids
and have to feel safe financially. My creative journey continues, and has
taken a fully professional pace in 2021, when I founded Oikos Estudio. This
project embraces my multidisciplinarity, my artisan approach to art. This
project reflects my way of living, my workshop house in the countryside, my
values.

What was the moment when you realized that being a multidisciplinary artist
was your calling?
I always was “multi”. At the upholstery school, I had a good friend who also was
into many things and we would call each other the “multi tout”. But for a long time
I thought it was a problem and I had to choose if I wanted to succeed in
something. I made piece with this when my children were born, and found I had
no time to lose and a real, new, urgency to create “things”. Today, all the “things”
are make are super honest, and within this honesty, probably also accepting
myself as I am, there is multidisciplinarity. I currently work with clay, painting and
weaving. Last year I discovered for bigger installations the joy of lime mortar… I
am sure I will continue to discover and test new techniques.

How do you want people to feel when they see, touch or receive your art?
Happy, I guess. Grounded. Humble. At piece. Protected.

What makes you feel empowered?
My daily artistic practice. Work, work and work.

What have been your biggest challenges in your journey so far?
Motherhood has been the biggest challenge and the biggest motor at the same
time. We have a difficult family history, and I have been raising my two kids on
my kids since there were very little. This has been the hardest challenge of my
life, but we are safe, healthy and happy.

Have you had any pivotal life changing moments? What were they?
Same.... Motherhood has been the biggest pivotal change and the biggest motor at the same time. We, my two boys and I, have a difficult family history, as we have suffered violence and abusive behaviour. It’s been pivotal to say the least to escape from that, fight for our rights to a secure life (physically and emotionally) and raise my small kids on my own at the same time. This has been the hardest challenge of my life, but we are safe, healthy and happy. And I believe that my two kids and I form a very strong little team.

Your manifesto to being in charge of your life?
Everything in an artisan way. Humble and demanding.

What is success for you?
When your attitude and your energy can make me impermeable to the violence around you.

Hindsight is a beautiful thing. What have been the most important lessons you
can share?
Work, every day. And when I doubt and it is hard, continue to work, even more.

What is your favourite piece of Indoi?
The Margaritte Oversize Shirt (in dusty blue)

Why?
Because I have the feeling it was made for me ahah!

Photograph by Morgane de Schaetzen