IBAL STUDIOInformation
CV
In Bocca Al Lupo (IBAL) Studio is the artistic practice of multidisciplinary designer Marina Kozak (former Design Director of Pitchfork), developed through the lens of an imaginary ancient Italian cult still at work today. Her work centers on designed objects used as tools for secular ritual and self-reflection, with equal parts darkness and humor.




Ritual ArtifactMediumYear
IBAL LOGOLOGO | IDENTITYDigital2025
SMOKE TOAD
EAU DE PARFUM | INSENCE BURNERScent | Ceramic2026
THOUGHT SNAKE
EAU DE PARFUM | TBDScent | TBDWIP
TIME HORSE
EAU DE PARFUM | TBDScent | TBDWIP
LARARIUM : INFINITE
WORSHIP SPACE
CERAMICWIP
THE MUSE
DEITY
 CERAMIC | WOOD | RESINWIP
EX VOTO
TALISMAN
 METALWIP
ALTAR SET
OFFERING VESSELS
 CERAMICWIP
ANCESTRAL  PORAL
ALTAR
 WOODWIP







SMOKE_TOAD EAU DE PARFUM | INCENSE BURNER2026
 Vivamus sed
 Tr. Aliquam  
 Publisher: Querido
 Design: Quisque
Smoke Toad emerged from my personal efforts to interrupt depressive spirals and reframe stillness as something restorative rather than stagnant. It began as a question: how can an object help carry the weight of despair long enough for the body and mind to recover?



 Vivamus sed
 Tr. Aliquam  
 Publisher: Querido
 Design: Quisque

Smoke Toad functions as both tool and companion. Its ritual follows three movements: acknowledgment, acceptance, and release. The process begins by recognizing a static emotional state without judgment. Stillness is treated as information, not failure. The next step asks for acceptance—allowing the body and mind to remain where they are, without adding guilt or urgency. This reframing clears space for action that restores rather than depletes.



 Vivamus sed
 Tr. Aliquam  
 Publisher: Querido
 Design: Quisque
Scent plays a central role in this transition. The fragrance initiates a grounded, stoic pause oriented toward repair instead of decay. Sitting with the scent shifts attention out of rumination and back into the body. Once the scent steadies the nervous system and reactivates physical presence, the ritual invites a final gesture: writing down one’s worries and offering them to Smoke Toad. Giving form to abstract distress makes it tangible, contained, and easier to release. The act of transfer allows stillness to become genuinely restful rather than cyclical.


 Vivamus sed
 Tr. Aliquam  
 Publisher: Querido
 Design: Quisque
Devloped with Clue Perfumeray, the fragrance itself is warm and enveloping, with a sharp inner heat meant to feel both anchoring and alive. Within the lore of Smoke Toad, this is the scent released when the toad consumes what weighs you down—an alchemical burn that transforms burden into fuel. Notes of black pepper, guaiacwood, earth, smoke, and musk create the impression of glowing embers: smoldering, steady, and resilient. The toad does not resent this work; it delights in it.

Top Notes: Black Pepper, Coriander
Middle Notes: Oakmoss, Smoke
Base Notes: Guaiacwood, Earth, Musk




 Vivamus sed
 Tr. Aliquam  
 Publisher: Querido
 Design: Quisque
The Smoke Toad incense burner is the physical embodiment of this narrative. Cast in ceramic, it serves as a small guardian object designed to hold space for rest. The ritual begins by lighting an incense cone beneath the toad. Worries are written down and placed gently in its mouth. From that moment, the burden is shared. You are allowed to rest for as long as the scent lingers. Writing renders the weight concrete; the toad carries it. The object does not solve despair, but it interrupts the spiral long enough for restoration to take hold.

Smoke Toad exists as an editioned work, designed to be lived with. It offers a quiet structure for release, a companion for stillness, and a reminder that rest can be active, intentional, and shared.



PROCESS


 Vivamus sed
 Tr. Aliquam  
 Publisher: Querido
 Design: Quisque
The incense burners were produced by creating plaster slip-cast molds from a 3D-printed master, then finished through a raku firing process. This approach was chosen both for practical and personal reasons. Slip casting allowed the work to exist as an accessible, editioned object—one that could be made consistently and shared widely as a functional art piece rather than a singular artifact.

At the same time, the process directly reflects the emotional framework of the work. Much of my experience with depression is tied to comparison and perfectionism, so I intentionally chose methods that resist control and reward imperfection. Slip casting requires patience and repetition; improvement comes through practice rather than precision. Over time, the flawed pieces have become the most meaningful to me, not as failures to be corrected, but as objects that ask to be lived with rather than discarded.

The raku firing deepens this relationship with uncertainty. Once the piece is placed into the fire, the outcome can no longer be dictated—only guided and witnessed. Each burner emerges marked by smoke, heat, and chance, resulting in a surface that is entirely its own. This unpredictability mirrors the ethos of Smoke Toad itself: learning to sit with what cannot be controlled, and allowing transformation to occur without forcing it.
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