These ceramics come from the rural tradition. Forms with a centuries-old presence, shaped by specific functions and passed down from generation to generation, these shapes have accompanied daily life as it was punctuated by festivities and seasonal rituals, becoming essential elements of rural homes.

The use of thick black nylon ropes, which wrap around and shape the terracotta, is meant to evoke the physical effort that defined pre-industrial daily labor, thus amplifying a form dictated by a specific function. A glossy black glaze coats all the forms like pitch, removing them from the diverse regional chromatic identities.

This choice also aims to ambiguously play with the notion of black design, which characterized European industrial production in the 1960s, particularly the design work of Dieter Rams for Braun. It’s a grammatical and conceptual reversal that suggests—and at the same time subverts—the equation between peasant knowledge and bourgeois design expertise.

DESIGNER
Andrea Anastasio