Hand-painted porcelain & glass · Lebanon

Pia Maria
Nehme

Porcelain and glass, painted by hand.
Every piece holds a story.

Enter the gallery
Seijaku, a low porcelain vase painted with a red sun, a white mountain, falling red leaves and a lone boatman on still water
Seijaku 静寂 · Porcelain vase

Works

Originals & private commissions
PMN 01 Private commission

Seijaku

Stillness amid turbulence

Commissioned as a gift for a married couple. The research led to the idea the piece would carry: the Japanese concept of Seijaku.

Porcelain vase · relief technique
Three kiln firings

Commissioned as a gift for a married couple. The research led to the idea the piece would carry: the Japanese concept of Seijaku, stillness amid turbulence.

The vase became a quiet reminder for the two of them. Even when life turns stormy, there is still beauty, still calm, and the choice to pause.

The leaves are the storm. The man is the choice to pause. The tsuru is the reminder that beauty is there, waiting.

PMN 02 Original

Mada مدى

The reach of a life

A vase about the way we move through life. One step at a time. Towards freedom. Towards wherever we are meant to arrive.

Porcelain vase · hand-painted
Calligraphy and fired gold

We move through life one step at a time. Towards freedom. Towards wherever we are meant to arrive.

The calligraphy reads life and freedom. Around it, every symbol holds a part of the way.

Stairs
One step at a time
Clock
The value of time
Horse
Strength to continue
Eye
Protection and perspective
Tree
Renewal after loss
PMN 03 Hospitality · Dubai

Il Circolo

Made for the table it serves

Table vases for Il Circolo, a supper club in Dubai. The club's name, lettered by hand between olive branches and lemons. Two Mediterranean homes, meeting on one table.

Porcelain table vases · hand-painted
Hand lettering

Table vases for Il Circolo, a supper club in Dubai.

Olive branches. Lemons. The name of the club, lettered by hand. Two Mediterranean homes, meeting on one table.

The identity of the place stops being a logo on the door. It becomes part of the objects people touch.

PMN 04 Private commission

The Four Seasons

Home, in four pieces

Commissioned for a Lebanese resident in Dubai, to keep the spirit of her homeland close.

Porcelain · four interlocking pieces
Hand-painted

Commissioned for a Lebanese resident in Dubai, to keep the spirit of her homeland close.

Pine branches in the cold. A hummingbird in spring. A yellow house by the sea. Leaves turning gold.

Apart, each piece is a season. Together, they become a year.

Maybe that is what home is: the pieces we carry with us, until they fit again.

PMN 05 Private commission

Monogram Service

Four designs, one table

A dinner service of four plates, each with its own design, made to be mixed and matched. At the centre, an initial lettered by hand in fired gold.

Porcelain dinner service · four designs
Green or blue · fired gold

Each of the four plates carries its own design: brushed bands, fine stripes, small gold leaves. Designed as a family, they can be mixed and matched, so the table changes with every setting.

At the centre, an initial lettered by hand in fired gold.

Available in green and in blue.

PMN 06 Private commission

Floral Plate in Relief

For an intimate table

A small bouquet at the heart of the plate. Around it, a rim woven in relief, soft pink, almost like linen.

Porcelain plate · relief rim
Hand-painted

A small bouquet at the heart of the plate. Pink, violet, yellow, a little blue.

Around it, a rim woven in relief, soft pink, almost like linen. Something you want to touch before you use it.

PMN 07 Original

Hummingbird

Seen through the surface

Painted on the reverse side of the glass. You see the bird through the clear surface, as if it is still in flight.

Glass · reverse painting

Painted on the reverse side of the glass, so the image is seen through the clear surface, and the glass itself protects the colours.

The order is reversed too. The finest details go down first, the background last.

You see the bird through the surface, as if it is still in flight.

In the studio

Materials, techniques & process

A piece doesn't start with the brush.
It starts with listening.

To a person. To a space. To a memory someone wants to keep.
Then the research becomes a sketch, the sketch becomes colour, and the colour becomes porcelain.

Materials

Porcelain

White and fine, porcelain holds every stroke. I paint with non-toxic colours that, once fired, become part of the piece and never fade.

Glass

Painted on the reverse side, so the image is seen through the clear surface. The glass protects the colours and gives them depth.

Fired gold

Applied by hand and fired in the kiln, where it bonds permanently with the glaze. Rims, lettering and fine details, finished in gold.

Techniques

Slow Wheel

The piece turns slowly while the brush moves. The result is fluid, balanced movement that no machine can repeat.

Reverse layering

On glass, the painting is built in reverse. The details come first and the background last, because the first stroke becomes the front of the image.

Relief

Raised details applied by hand, like the gold of the tsuru on Seijaku. You see them. You also feel them.

From idea to fire
  1. ResearchListening to the space, the person and the intention.
  2. ConceptFinding the one idea the piece will carry.
  3. SketchDrawing the composition until it feels right.
  4. ColourChoosing a palette with intention, for the story and the space.
  5. PaintingEvery detail by hand, one layer at a time.
  6. FiringEach layer is fired in the kiln. Depending on the design, a piece may need several firings.
New collection

Coming soon.

A new collection, inspired by China's culture.
Red lanterns. Fine ink lines. Small figures on their way somewhere.
And woven through it, a touch of Arabic…

Two cultures of the brush, meeting on porcelain.

A hand painting a small figure inside a white porcelain bowl
A finely painted eye in progress on a porcelain surface
Pia Maria Nehme, resting her chin on her hand and holding a fine brush, with brushes in the foreground
The artist

Every piece begins long before the first brushstroke.

I have been drawing for as long as I can remember.
At sixteen, I started painting on canvas. Then on wood, and on other surfaces.

In 2023, I found porcelain. I trained under a Lebanese master porcelain painter, and I haven't put the brush down since.

Today I paint originals and private commissions, from Lebanon to the rest of the world.

Porcelain is not simply a surface.
It is how I tell stories.
Commissions & collaborations

A piece made for your story.

Every commission begins with a conversation.

Share a few details about the piece you have in mind: who or what it is for, and the space it will live in. Each inquiry receives a personal response, followed by an initial concept and a tailored proposal.

Send an email
Delivery

Worldwide delivery.
Every piece is packed by hand.

Follow the work Instagram · @_piamaria.n_