Hala Matta (b. 1970) is a Beirut-based ceramicist. She spent 25 years in Paris where she received a Master’s degree in banking and finance from the Sorbonne and worked in the banking and retail industries. She held different positions in Louis Vuitton Paris, including marketing for the Middle East and India, and opening the Louis Vuitton store in downtown Beirut. Afterwards, there came a major shift in her career when she decided to quit the corporate world and cultivate a practice of craftsmanship and artisanship. She followed intensive courses in ceramics at the studios of ceramicists Nathalie Khayat’s studio and Nevil Salha. She also studied with ceramic artist Samar Mogharbel at the Lebanese American University (LAU). She soon after opened her own studio in Beirut. Some of the workshops in which she participated include Tortus in

Copenhagen and Fayoum Egypt at the Porret Pastore pottery school. She perfected the techniques of Raku and Naked Raku in Thessaloniki and Athens with Theodoros Galigalidis and Marilena Michopoulou, eventually building her own Raku kiln. Her techniques also include the wheel, hand building, coiling and the slab. She often collaborates with artists Katya Traboulsi and Vivian Van Blerk. Her work can be found at Saleh Barakat Gallery in Beirut and the Boghossian Foundation in Brussels.