Mottled, loud, regal. It is the union of materials of different natures. Only a skilled craftsman knows what will be the direction of its veining once it reaches the firing point.
Cotto Variegato workmanship arose in the Lombard Italian area following the splendor of the Renaissance. It covered the most prestigious buildings with its veined, juxtaposed decorations, as if to reproduce marble designs from the most precious quarries.
Yet it was born from cotto. A primitive clay, quarried from the beds of Lombard rivers among the different stratifications of the soil. And it is precisely the layering that makes it possible to manipulate the different clays with each other. Mixed, mixed in layers with distinct techniques depending on the decoration. Each kiln possessed its own method of forming and each area had its own clays resulting in countless, varied, types of terracotta.
As varied as the land of which it is made.
The Color
Everything and nothing. This is white. All colors combined, therefore without color. Nevertheless, it exists. It is not possible to say that white does not exist. That is why Kaolin is our favorite white, it transcends. Its opacified origin differentiates it from any other white, making it immediately recognizable. Being exists. Non-being is not. White is Kaolin.
The Shape
Vesuvio Etna, Stromboli and Vesuvius | trio of terracotta vases
design Marialaura Irvine for FangoRosa
“A trio of vases with two-dimensional forms whose decoration follows the free flow of the material, creating a variegated array of colors, in which the beauty of imperfection is the protagonist. The two-dimensional form extrudes to create an architectural landscape; an interplay of geometric volumes and craters of different angles and sizes that are enriched with floral compositions.”
Marialaura Irvine
