Beauty exercises

Soft, almost dreamlike creations, with graceful beauty, are placed side by side with more rustic ceramic objects and wooden utensils that recall those of the kitchens of the past, now enriched with a touch of modernity and innovation. These are all little dreams of matter that accompany everyday gestures, from breakfast to dinner, objects that fascinate you with their elegance, the harmony between form and color, and those imperfections that make them unique and authentic. 

Giorgia, the creator of these wonders, tells me that working with porcelain is a challenge, a hard work that pushes her to overcome her limits every day, to review the attitude towards what she is doing every time, never to forget the meticulous care towards every detail. Immersed in nature, above Lake Caldonazzo, he lives with his sons Martino and Angelica, her husband Paolo, the dog Ulisse and the cat Mimì on a maso near Trento. A laboratory home where little sparks of magic come true.

Why did you decide to move here?

Our dream was to have a home studio so that we didn’t have to travel to work. It is a very isolated place but we like to live here. The school buses come to pick up the boys at 6:30 am and then I can immerse myself in work and in the thousand things to do.

Where does this passion for porcelain come from?

It is a material that I have not always used. My journey started in the 90s when I attended a course in an artists’ house for a week in Canale di Tenno, a medieval village in Trentino. Later I bought an oven and started producing ceramics with the raku technique, cutting out the space in a room in my father’s house. From that moment a long process of experimentation began. Later in 1997 I opened a laboratory. At the time I only produced artistic artifacts. When I realized that ceramics was now an inflated material, I decided to take a leap and produce porcelain, which is translucent and fine, and stoneware, a robust raw material. I had to start again: buy new ovens, glazes. Porcelain is difficult to work, it is very delicate and prone to breakage. It was a big challenge to start everything with new equipment. It took me about a year to create something aesthetically pleasing!

Was there a mentor craftsman who helped you along this path?

Today it is more difficult to go to the shop. I had never had a teacher before attending a lathe-working workshop that lasted one day. During the workshop instead, done together with my husband, I met a teacher who in 4 hours told me many things, really precious. With porcelain it is very difficult to achieve an aesthetic that is in balance between lightness and utility, so a more experienced person who works alongside you makes the difference in learning; producing a handle for example requires a lot of study for technical details and aesthetics. It is always a struggle between man and the material he wants to shape. Think that the porcelain cooks at 1250 degrees, a fascinating but difficult alchemical process. Start with a pack of damp, soft earth that eventually becomes the thing you know. It was fundamental for me to meet a teacher.

Based on what do you decide the release of new pieces?

Behind every object there is a long design work. Before offering a product, we test it through a series of very strict tests, including repeated washing in the dishwasher. I am opposed to proposing a new line every season, I prefer to give continuity and add pieces to existing lines, always with great caution. So the basic collection is always there.

How do you make calligraphies?

Everything I decide to write involves a remarkable exercise, a great study. Every time I have to understand how to connect the stroke to the shape of the various letters and be very careful because they must be written before enamelling. I found some words that I liked and practiced a lot with a particular brush. There is a vast possibility of customization, but each writing corresponds to a new and long work. It’s a precious research.

You have 13,000 followers on Instagram, publications in national magazines, an increasingly updated site. How did you able to promote your work from the maso?

In 2011 I met a girl from Milan who start worked with me as my press office and helped me understand how the field of online communication is moving. Until 2 years ago I was selling through a reseller for which it was hard at the beginning, I couldn’t understand how social media worked. My dad died in May 2016 and before he left he gave me a phone 6. From there I started taking pictures and posting on Instagram. The big breakthrough came with this incredible communication channel and the online shop. We have put our soul into it. These are choices that have changed me to a crazy level. If you are coherent with yourself and you have beautiful contents, everything lives on its own life. The 13,000 followers reached this year have been a wonderful achievement.

From the place where you live and from the photos you post I feel that you have a great love for nature. How much does it affect your works?

For me it is a constant inspiration. It can be a color, a shape, a shadow, a passage of clouds … They say that ideas come when you walk. The Japanese to write the haiku, the poems with three stanzas of 5 syllables, draw inspiration from a walk in the midst of nature and the passing of the seasons. When I do it I feel inspired, it invites me to creativity. I don’t think I could be the same person if I kept working in the village.

Do you have other sources of inspiration?

Yes, wabi-sabi, the art of imperfection. It is a concept that is very close to my heart. The pieces we produce are inspired by this. There is always an imperfect sign in a harmony. It is a very fascinating concept.

How is your typical day like?

Wake up at 6:00. My daughter has to go to school in Trento and the van passes quickly. I prepare breakfast, light the fire and make liters of tea, always. After the girls left, my son, who has a bus at 7, started to wake up. After they all left, I looked at emails once a day, just in the morning. After half an hour I go with the dog for a ride in the woods 45 minutes, sometimes alone sometimes with my husband. Among all these things I also have breakfast. At around 8: 30-9: 00 we start working in the laboratory. The pre Christmas period until September is the most intense one especially on Saturdays and Sundays, otherwise we normally end at 4.30pm-5pm and dedicate ourselves to reading or making an apple pie. When you have to set the time and you have your home and study together, the risk is getting carried away by work. You are always in a flow of creative ideas that translate into work and therefore you have to take moments to disconnect. Lately to relax I do crochet.

What does your husband do instead?

Paolo has entered on an ongoing basis over the past 5 years. Besides being my collaborator, he is a very good craftsman, an expert in the form, in fact if he has to make a plaster mold he does it. I am more experienced in the decorative part. It was Paolo who proposed the wood collection. It is the right man that I could meet in my life.

What would you recommend to a youth who would like to do this job?

It takes a determination of iron, managing communication in the most personal way possible and doing a good research, taken care of well, before proposing yourself to the world. I notice that in some artisans there is a bit of improvisation about quality. We need to understand what we want, where we want to go and be sure of what we do. Professionalism and research characterize the true craftsman.

What book are you reading right now?

The Apocalypse by Rudolph Steiner.