Brooklyn born and bred, Lev has always immersed himself in athletics; playing various sports from a young age but ultimately focusing on soccer (football), which took him to Ohio where he played collegiately.
Nowadays, Lev is a player in his own right, in the field of the arts. He has made waves quickly as one of the most exciting up and coming ceramists. After transferring from university in the US, Lev graduated from London’s prestigious Central Saint Martins with a degree in Ceramic Design. Lev’s inspiration is drawn from his experience as a goalkeeper. Lev is not only a ceramist, but also a mixed media maker. He tells stories with his designs through narrative video/photography.
In the short amount of time since graduation in 2023, he has launched Studio Halftime, through which he has already worked with an impressive array of clients such as Red Star Paris, Adidas, Art of Football, OnlyNY, and Puma to name only a few.
Lev is based in London and teaches pottery at Studio Pottery London alongside his practice. When visiting home, he often teaches at Choplet in Brooklyn.
Playing as a high-level goalkeeper and working as a ceramist might seem rather unusual. Lev believes that the two are inherently linked: ‘There is connection between the mind/hands as a means to create, which resonates with me and the relation to my goalkeeping; you can see my hand in my work. The score of a game comes down to the micro decisions I make in the moment and the same thing applies with micro finger movements to produce a form; the slight slip of the finger can turn a bowl into a plate.
When goalkeeping you are either the zero or hero, which in some sense is an individual craft in itself… So, I sit at the wheel with a level of patience and focus, which I learnt from sports.’
