Running around the busy city every day, can make us feel disconnected from ourselves and our surroundings. It becomes imperative to ground ourselves and find some calm, says Liza Carisimo. LizaCrea is one of the few places specialising in just that.
Liza is a clinical psychologist and an ontological coach. She has worked in various settings, including nurseries, NGOs, private practice, and as a coach for a human resources consulting firm. Now she offers workshops in pottery, and the art of clay: it is far more than a technique: it is a channel, between the artistic and the therapeutic, to express what we sometimes cannot put into words.
The journey of a visionary
Towards the end of 2016, Liza took her daughter to a Christmas Ceramics workshop in Asunción, and found herself mesmerised by working with clay. She began attending classes herself, and by the next year, with more experience, decided to buy a kiln and set up her own workshop at home.
At that point in her life, Liza was navigating a tough period and discovered immense comfort in clay. She was able to push through it with calm and stability, benefits that the earth element provides. Then, in 2020, she successfully merged all her experience with ceramics and created LizaCrea, just north of the Las Lomas area in Asunción.
“That’s where this beautiful enterprise was born, which for almost five years I have been moulding it into a beautiful work of art,” she reflects on her commitment and care for this project.
The therapeutic power of clay
Liza explains how clay, as a living material, helps us unload tensions, transform, start over, and mould into thousands of different shapes. “It helps us connect with our inner child and creative side, teaches us frustration, fosters patience, and grants us radiance. We are like clay. And what interests me most in my workshops is that people become aware of what happens to them while moulding.”
She describes her experience in the clay world as slow and organic, with the ceramic process mirroring the process of mourning. It requires many careful, sure steps to then emerge virtuous and become a piece of art, much like a piece of clay. “My biggest challenge is to transmit my essence; that invisible part of my service.”
A sensory art experience
Liza explains how it facilitates emotional well-being, and self-discovery in a gentle, human, and deeply natural way. It is not just theory; she focuses not on what “should be,” but on the body touching mud, the breath loosening, and the heart finding a calmer rhythm.
“The silence, the slow rhythm, the contact with a material as primary as clay. All this activates something that we carry inside and that the fast world often covers: the ability to feel, to look at ourselves.” She states that pottery is far more than a technique; it is a channel to express what we sometimes cannot put into words.
Celebrating connections
LizaCrea also offers unique events called “Wine and Clay” and “Brunch & Clay,” where you can celebrate with friends while engaging in this activity, enjoying food and drinks. In these workshops, one cannot help but feel relaxed, find a connection with friends and the earth, have fun, and learn about the ancient art of the ceramic process.
“What I hope is that LizaCrea becomes a space that touches people in a real and deep way.” Liza does not want it to be merely a ceramic workshop, but a small refuge amidst the city’s fast pace. A place where people can return to their body, to the present, and to the essential.
“I want LizaCrea to be a bridge: between the artistic and the therapeutic, between doing and feeling, between the intimate and the shared.”
Liza offers very flexible schedules throughout the whole week because “I don’t want the cure to be the disease.” With people already surrounded by life’s pressures and stress, she wants her service to be a solution. She explains that she wants people to feel free to come at their preferred time, making the experience easy and fluid.
To get in contact, find LizaCrea on Instagram. Also read about the life of Paraguay’s mastery potter Rosalina Robles.
