CRAFT STORIES | EUROPE | ITALY | CERAMICS

The Ceramics of Faenza

Saura Vignoli in the studio.

A hub for ceramics since the Middle Ages, the modern day artisans of this small Italian town in Emilia-Romagna honor the traditions of the past while innovating for the future. Cabana explores Faenza, its storied clay-rich past and its vibrant, contemporary craft scene. 

Arriving in Faenza with its pastel facades and portico-lined piazzas, it’s not long before you notice a running theme. Decorative plaques on buildings, sign posts signaling pottery studios and shopfronts filled with hand painted tiles all let you know you have arrived in a home of ceramics. Located in Emilia-Romagna, almost midway between Bologna and Ravenna, this town has had a storied past with the craft.

Surrounded by clay-rich soil and well-positioned for trade, Faenza became well known for earthenware pottery in the Middle Ages. However, it wasn’t until the town started experimenting with glazing that it really earned its place on the ceramic map.

In the late 15th century, Faenza’s craftspeople pioneered the Maiolica technique in which earthenware was coated with a tin-based white glaze to create a canvas for rich colors and intricate designs that end up glossy and vibrant after their final firing. This process (also known internationally as Faïence, a French word taken from the town’s name) allowed them to create refined pieces with stylised motifs referencing nature, geometry and Renaissance architecture – one that has gone on to be used globally.

© Fos Ceramiche

At my first stop in Faenza, the International Museum of Ceramics – the largest of its kind dedicated to ceramics in the world – I learn that by the early 16th century, 260 active workshops could be found in the city employing nearly 10% of the city’s 12,000 population. The tradition continues and ceramics are still a thriving trade for the town with over 60 ceramic workshops dotted throughout the city, some following traditional techniques and others riffing on new ones.

Meanwhile, in the 15th century workshops clustered around the chapel of San Vitale, in an industrial area on the outskirts of the city, sits the studio of Ivana and Saura Vignoli, two sisters who have mastered their own take on Faenza's Maiolica technique. Moving to the town as teenagers, they both studied at the city’s legendary ceramic school (Istituto d’Arte Ballardini) before opening their joint workshop in 1976 and developing their own distinct styles across tableware, vases and decorative pieces.

© Faenza and Studio Vignoli Visit

Saura, the chattier sister, creates finely detailed geometric work. “I love to look at Italy’s rich history,” she tells me as she grabs a photo of a mosaic floor from the Basilica of San Vitale, a Byzantine church in Ravenna, which she used as a starting point for decorating a large spherical pot. Much like her Renaissance predecessors who looked to the Islamic world for inspiration, the influence of Arabic art is obvious in her designs, albeit often with a pop art twist.

Meanwhile, Ivana’s style is figurative and painterly, with fish a recurring motif. It’s backbreaking work for both sisters who create these complex and repetitive designs with fine paintbrushes with larger pieces taking weeks to paint. The mesmerising final pieces all have an iridescent quality thanks to their technique of using metal oxide and blast-fire reduction (starving the kiln of oxygen). As I watch a batch of teacups heading into the kiln, a pile of rejected pieces sits to the side. “It’s always an experiment, we can never guarantee the kiln will be on our side,” Saura says. 

© Studio Vignoli

A few minutes walk away at the studio of FOS Ceramiche, I find two artisans working in a different material but one that is equally precarious. Here, Piero Mazzotti and Andri Ioannou, an Italian and Cypriot who met in Faenza and opened their studio in 1987, craft handmade sculptural porcelain objects. While the 18th century artisans of Faenza experimented with porcelain, FOS’ unglazed pieces are a contemporary take.

The meticulous process is filled with stumbling blocks as they create their desired shape out of clay, make a silicon mould, transfer it to a plaster one and then pour the porcelain and bake it up to four times. With unglazed porcelain, its texture is the star of the show and it often takes multiple failed attempts to get right.

FOS Studio Visit © Fos Ceramiche

Their work is closely connected to the natural world and a walk through their studio feels like a trip under the ocean, or through a jungle with these organic forms lining shelves and poking out from behind machinery. “It’s as simple as being on a hike and taking a photo of a rock. Three years later it might become a piece,” Andri, who loves to spend her time outside of the studio in the mountains, explains. Over time their pieces have become even more intricate and complex, as the pair and their team push themselves further with each collection, sometimes using final flourishes of colour to add decoration. “The more complicated the design, the harder our work is to copy,” Andri notes.

Whether it’s pushing boundaries with new techniques, intricate shapes or elaborate paintwork, these artisans of Faenza continue the adventurous spirit of their predecessors and continue to develop the town’s legacy as a hub for craft and creativity.

Words and images by Elizabeth Bennett 

Images courtesy FOS Ceramiche and Studio Vignoli