Monday, March 18, 2013

Bottega Vignoli


     On a recent trip to Italy, Marc and I made a special stop in the town of Faenza to meet the Vignoli sisters, Saura and Ivana. They are ceramic artists who create pieces in the traditional “Faience” style, with a twist. “Faience” refers to pottery that incorporates a tin oxide glaze on white earthenware pottery, but they are using copper oxides instead of tin. The results are AMAZING!

     When we arrived in Faenza, we walked in the rain from the train station to their studio, not fully aware just how far it was from the station. Saura and Ivana greeted us with such a warm welcome that we forgot we were cold and wet.

     Ivana demonstrated her painting skills as we watched her create her beautiful fish on a small bowl. We knew right then we would be going home with some of those fish.

     Saura gave us a tour of the studio and workshop, explaining all the processes and techniques. Then we went upstairs to the showroom. It was like the Holy Grail of pottery…one beautiful amazing fabulous piece after another! We were drooling and wanted to take everything home with us. The only thing that brought us back to reality was when Saura told us they didn’t accept credit cards. We figured out how much cash we had in our pockets and decided on one large piece. This is Saura holding our new fish vase. What do you think?

 

     Saura carefully packed and shipped the vase for us, then gave us a ride back to the train station. Two weeks later, our package arrived at our home without a scratch.  

     You can see more of this unique pottery at Bottega Vignoli.

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