Clay Stories by Bo Mandes

Let’s Get to Know Each Other — My First Love

Hi, I’m Bojana. But if you follow me on social media, you probably know me as Bo Mandes. And today, I want to tell you something deeply personal. Something that shaped me — literally and in life.

📍 My first great love? Clay.

Bo Mandes Clay Arts

For as long as I can remember, it has been part of me. Honestly, I don’t even have memories of myself as a little girl without clay being somewhere in the picture — whether I was playing in the pottery workshop I grew up in, helping sell handmade ceramics, or trying to shape my own little bowls with messy hands.

In many households, dirty hands are a reason to get scolded. In ours — they were a ticket to enter the world of magic.

📌 My home was a pottery studio. Clay everywhere. Molds. Old-fashioned fired kilns And that famous pottery wheel — not electric, but the kind you work with your feet. The more effort you give, the more the clay gives back.

That wheel was my first teacher in life.

From a young age, I learned that if you don’t get messy, you don’t get a masterpiece. If you don’t make mistakes — you don’t really learn. If you don’t invest yourself — there’s no real joy in success.

I was lucky to come from a pottery family. The house I grew up in was alive with creativity. My grandfather, my mother, artists, craftsmen, teachers, creatives — all passed through our workshop.

And me? I learned by watching. Quietly, curiously, shyly. Secretly creating my own little pieces when I thought no one was looking.

Until one day, they did notice. And instead of pushing me away, they welcomed me in.

Imagine a little three-year-old girl looking up at grown pottery masters and saying, “I want to do that too.” They didn’t laugh or ignore me. They saw the spark — the love, the talent, the curiosity — and they let me be a part of the process. Sometimes more, sometimes less, depending on school and life. But clay always stayed in my story.

Formal education was important, of course. But non-formal learning — the kind that happens with your hands, your heart, your mistakes and joy — that shaped my journey.

📍 Today, whenever I sit down to work with clay, I carry with me little Bojana, my family, and all the masters who guided me. This is more than a craft — it’s a rooted love, nurtured with muddy hands and a soul full of smiles.

And that’s why I started sharing these stories — To tell, to preserve, and to inspire.

Welcome to my clay world. Bo Mandes🧡