Territory - Ceramiche Giovanni De Maio

Art is the ability to preserve within itself, in the very form of its works, the memory of everything that concerns it.

Territory

The history of Vietri ceramic art starts from afar and is inextricably linked to the territory, to the suggestions and sensibilities of the interpreters who have inhabited it.
It is an art that is affected by the colours from which it was generated, such as the crystalline blue of the sea, the jade of the woods, the warm tones of citrus fruits that dominate unchallenged this luxuriant coastal land …

Continue to read

The origins

According to historians and the memories of the natives, the history of Vietri ceramics begins in the 5th century BC, during the Etruscan period. But the premises of what will become tradition come around 1200, when ceramics became the undisputed protagonists of dedicated fairs …

Over the centuries, this art has refined, but the great turning point occurred in the seventeenth century when the Vietri artistic ceramics were enriched with more complex forms and decorations that led to the creation of sacred objects such as domestic holy water fonts and majolica tiles with a religious subject.

Subsequently, more and more frequent commercial relationships, combined with the characteristics of the territory and the particular sensitivity of the Vietri artisans, attracted from the 1920s onwards the arrival on the coast of global artists and artisans such as Irene Kowaliska, Riccardo Dolker, and Giovannino Carrano, who led Vietri to go beyond its borders and become one of the recognized capitals of artistic ceramic production.

During the 40s of the twentieth century the art of Vietri ceramics reaches apical levels, both in terms of shapes and colours. At that time, many Jewish artists chose the Amalfi Coast as a refuge, offering local frescoes and works of art in exchange for hospitality. Traditions and artistic sensitivities mixed in an unrepeatable melting pot of styles and influences, giving life to new, international and stylistically unique products, which were combined with a more commercial mentality but still with an artisanal character.

From that moment on, Vietri ceramics stood out in the artistic panorama for its creative synthesis, for the immediacy of the image, for the colours that are combined by contrast and not by overlapping, and contributes to making the Amalfi Coast one of the most beautiful and evocative places in the world.

The tradition today has not been interrupted but internationalized. In fact, walking through Vietri it is possible to come across artisan workshops that carry on ancient family traditions or are committed to reinterpreting tradition, such as the Giovanni De Maio company, which exports its products globally. The Giovanni De Maio company collaborates with designers and architects for international projects that merge future with present, while drawing on the richness of the past.

Continue to read

Processing

The processing of ceramics is an almost timeless art that makes use of the four fundamental elements: water, earth, fire, air.

Continue to read

Method

The clay takes shape using the lathe or by means of hand moulds or presses. This phase is called ``forging``. After modelling, the object undergoes a natural air drying process to allow a gradual loss of residual moisture aimed at fixing its plasticity.