Officina Ceramica Handpainted Italian Ceramics
29 September 2010
“That’s What You Are”
Somewhere near the ankle of the Italian boot is one of the most breathtakingly beautiful places on Earth, the Amalfi coastline. This blog site is really not the place for any kind of political discussion, but looking at something like the picture that tops today’s blog does tend to get me to thinking about the kind of world we could make for ourselves, if we simply concentrated our efforts on all of us pulling the wagon in the same direction and putting wars of conquest and every kind of racism and hatred forever behind us. But, as I say, this is not the place for that kind of discussion, but looking at this picture it is clear to me that Italy is one of the most favored places one can imagine, and I especially think this is true of those who live in the arts. One of the nagging questions anyone who works in any aspect of the arts deals with is, “where do you get your ideas?” Well, in Italy I think the answer would pretty much be, “I get up every morning and open my eyes to all that is around me.” Because if surroundings like these do not inspire you to create, you’re just not creative!
I brought all of that up, though, because as part of my normal research for my blogs, I decided to follow up on the reference to the Amalfi coastline on the website of the subject of today’s blog, namely Officina Ceramica. One of my dreams, and it’s rapidly becoming an obsession, is to one day journey to Italy with my business partner and our wives, to meet the many people I have been writing about and to see that enchanted land. It’s not a thing I run hot and cold on, more like hot and hotter, and today it was incandescent! It came from reading this paragraph on their website:
“The wonderful Amalfi coast is home to the famous Vietri’s ceramics which are characterized by exciting colors inspired by the incomparable surrounding 
natural wonders. There’s the green marine of the coast anfractuosities, the yellow of lemons, the orange of citrus fruits which grow on the cultivated terraces, and embracing all there is turquoise and blue, the meeting point between sky and sea. These colors, which famous artists have adapted to various mediums, have for years made this corner of Italy a legendary home for ceramics which are well-known all over the world, a place of boundless beauty and creativity.”
Longtime readers of this site know about my endless fascination with ceramic tile. I have seen too many varieties of tile to ever characterize it as anything other then endlessly innovative, but there is also a fair amount of new and exciting work being done the old way, with hand painted tile. I really like the way so much of the tile Officina Ceramica carries evokes the old country, which given its origin, is not surprising. They also have any number of ceramic treasures ranging from dishes to vases to just about anything and everything that can be shaped from ceramics, a true cornucopia. Officina Ceramica is also known online as Handpainted Italian Ceramics, which is an easier name for us to remember here in the USA, but frankly, looking at what they have brought to this country makes them, in any language, unforgettable.
Joseph
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