Bitossi Ceramiche - Clay centerpiece with tears white

A lathe-made centerpiece made of white refractory earth. The top is incised, creating sections that are torn off by hand. Matt white enamel.
Year of production 2018

Formafantasma

Formafantasma is a research-based design studio investigating the ecological, historical, political and social forces shaping the discipline of design today. Since founding the studio in 2009, Italians Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin have championed the need for value laden advocacy merged with holistic design thinking. Their aim is to facilitate a deeper understanding of both our natural and built environments and to propose transformative interventions through design and its material, technical, social, and discursive possibilities. Working from their studio in Milan (Italy) and Rotterdam (The Netherlands), the practice embraces a broad spectrum of typologies and methods, from product design through spatial design, strategic planning and design consultancy. For Formafantasma, this crossflow of knowledge and experience taken from both their commercial contracts and their more autonomous projects has benefitted and informed the respective other. However, their projects have been presented, published and acquired in the permanent collection of international museums including New York’s MoMA and Metropolitan Museum, Art Institute Chicago, London’s Victoria and Albert, Paris’ Musée National d'Art Moderne, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, CNAP, Fondation Cartier and Centre Pompidou, the Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum, the Vienna’s MAK Museum , Utrecht’s Centraal Museum, Mudac Lausanne, North Carolina’s Mint Museum of Craft and Design, Rome’s Museo Maxxi, Vitra Design Museum, Melbourne’s National Gallery of Victoria, Triennale di Milano, LACMA, Tilburg’s Textiel Museum and others. In March 2020 Serpentine Galleries dedicated a solo exhibition to Formafantasma and their in depth investigation into the governance of the timber industry.

Bitossi Ceramiche

Bitossi is a historic identity of Italian manufacturing, present since the second half of the nineteenth century in the area of Montelupo Fiorentino, Tuscany. The Bitossi manufactory, today Bitossi Ceramiche, belongs to the family for five generations and has been located in the same place since 1921. The company in the year 2014 was included in the Register of Italian Historical Enterprises. Bitossi production until the end of the 1940s reflects the traditional taste linked to local production, and then evolved into unique creations exported worldwide that still represent the excellence of Made in Italy. Many designers have approached the production of Manifattura Bitossi over the years, creating new collections. First of all, the architect Ettore Sottsass, who started to collaborate the Bitossi factory from 1955 to experiment and created new modern ceramics.