Story
Where the gesture becomes memory
Cochabamba, Bolivia
Karina Ticona Nava
Born in Bolivia, I grew up surrounded by my family's stories, peopled with half-human, half-animal beings. They are the ones I try to bring to life today.
After studying fine arts in Bolivia, I earned a DNSEP from the ENSAD in Limoges in 2024. My work has been exhibited in Bolivia, Argentina and France.
Based in Limoges, I divide my studio between sculpture, where my creatures are born, and jewelry, which extends their world.
Sumaq Pacha pays tribute to the world I grew up in, from the Amazon to the legends of my childhood.
Limoges, France
Porcelain, put to the test
It was in France, in Limoges, that porcelain entered my work. At the ENSAD in Limoges, then alongside Nadège Mouyssinat, the material imposed another discipline on me.
I remember my first porcelain sculpture. Everyone thought it would shatter in the kiln. When it was opened, there it was — fragile, intact, complex. That moment sealed a certainty: the gesture held.
Porcelain demands control and time. It imposes patience. To this day, I keep testing its limits.
The studio
The birth of Sumaq Pacha
Sumaq Pacha was born of that tension. Of a gaze shaped by Bolivian earth, confronted with a craft handed down by fire.
In my studio in France, every piece is shaped by hand in Limoges porcelain. Each step — modeling, sanding, glazing, firing — is a ritual. Nothing is delegated. Nothing is decorative.
Gold comes in with intention. In Andean cultures it is a sacred metal, tied to the sun. It is not a sign of vanity, but of offering.
Wearing
The jewel as a bearer of stories
Turning sculpture into jewelry lets it accompany a body, a daily life, a personal story. It gives it movement, a presence.
The jewel then becomes a vessel of memory. It does not seek to adorn, but to carry meaning. Conceived as a sculpture on an intimate scale, each piece is meant to be inhabited, handed down, lived.
Bespoke & collaborations
A piece that carries meaning, beyond ornament
A special order, a bespoke piece, an artistic collaboration or a professional request: every project receives the same care. I will reply to you personally.