A Potter Shaped by the world

On her plates, world cuisines are served. Local fare with flair at Uva and Lolo Dad’s, international specialties at the Shangri-La, Mandarin and Peninsula hotel restaurants. Discriminating guests at Amanpulo and El Nido resorts dine on fresh catch of the day using her plates. Even a Malaysian Hotel and a department store in Spain are pleased with their custom-made orders. They may not be aware of it, but they’re eating off plates that come from the workshop of one remarkable woman: Lanelle Abueva-Fernando.

Many of us have dined in her fine stoneware plates. By simply looking at the workmanship, the clean lines, texture and colors, one can easily tell the famed potter made them. Its simplicity tends to elegance. What amazes is how her style can easily suit any cuisine.

The versatility of her pottery stems from the persona of the artist. Perhaps it is because this artist is a woman of the world, quite literally. Since she was nine years old she has been moving from one country to another.

Many assume that Lanelle is the daughter of National Artist Napoleon Abueva. He is in fact her uncle. As a young girl, she would tinker in his studio allowing her to develop an interest in arts and crafts. But having Jose Abueva, the University of the Philippines president of the late 80’s and a renowned academic, as her father gave her a rich taste and education around the world. This professor of political science provided his daughter a rich and colorful life as a gypsy. While her father took on various teaching posts in different countries, the young Lanelle studied pretty much around the world. Grades one to four were spent in Assumption, Herran. She studied fifth grade in Hawaii as her father taught at the East-West Center. The next year her father taught at Brooklyn College, and the young Lanelle gained a Brooklyn accent and her sixth grade education there before returning to Assumption for her seventh grade.

First year high school was in New Haven, Connecticut where her father taught at the prestigious Yale University. As soon as this teenager could fall in love with New England, it was time to return to Manila. She finished her sophomore year in Assumption. Her last two years in high school were completed at Silliman University in Dumaguete. Lanelle recalls how lovely the city was prior to the arrival of all the tricycles. She smiles as she reminisces going to class in a horse-drawn caritela during the good old days.

Drawn to the arts, she studied fine arts at the University of the Philippines, the alma mater of the famous Abueva men. But her sophomore year found her wearing a brown sari school uniform as she attended university in Katmandu–her father once again had an international teaching post. Her third and fourth years were completed at UP. Before she could actually figure out what to do with her fine arts degree, the family was again packing their bags, this time headed for Japan. It was in Hachijo-jima, southeast of Tokyo, that Lanelle gained clarity in her path as an artist. She was first drawn to textile designing because of her fascination with the wonderful colors of fabrics. But she was practical enough to know it required investing in a factory to pursue this art form.

She was then lured to pottery. The next three years were spent learning from a Japanese master potter. Rooted in the traditions and strict discipline of Japanese culture, she mastered their techniques. But like any artist, she longed to express her own style and culture. She went to Sun Valley, Idaho to pursue further studies in western techniques. She finally returned home in 1981. The next decade was spent mastering her craft. In the early ‘90’s hotels and restaurants started placing orders for custom designed stoneware plates. The orders have not stopped, keeping Lanelle and her workers busy all year round.

Today, she has a café and studio in Antipolo called Crescent Moon. A few minutes away from her Beverly Hills home, Lanelle continues to make beautiful stoneware plates, pitchers, saucers, mugs, teacups, chimes and vases. She still delights in the process of pottery. One can never really predict the exact shade attained after baking in the kiln. Many come and visit Crescent Moon to buy her creations. Others come to partake of the culinary legacy her late husband Bey Fernando left behind in his unique Asian specialties served in the café. Some are so inspired by Lanelle’s talent they take pottery lessons in her craft store Pottery Exchange in Eastwood. Along with her two teenage daughters, dozens of lovely Japanese carp swimming in her fishpond and a serene garden in Antipolo, this gypsy has finally found a home. She has put her suitcases aside, but has not stopped packing–she continues to carefully wrap her lovely stoneware creations. Like a proud mother, she sees them off as they continue the journey Lanelle started when they travel to dining tables around the world.