Grey ceramic centrepiece
Centrepiece

A warm gray, pulled up with a pigeon-like curl.

Gray Centerpiece

  • white
  • h 8 cm · Ø 27 cm
  • white clay

€110,00

This piece is one of a kind.

What you see in the photo is what you'll receive. If you'd like another, it can be remade to order.

Thrown, painted and fired by hand by Marcella and Maria Teresa Lorenzi, in Empoli.

The piece

Twenty-seven in diameter by eight in height: the medium bowl, the one that stays on the table all day.

White earthenware, painted and glazed in warm gray, hand-built with coiled curls.

How it's made

From raw clay to the second firing. In between there are two pairs of hands and a kiln you cannot be in a hurry to open.

  1. The wheelThe raw clay rises and takes shape. From here on every gesture stays: a piece that goes wrong is made again from scratch.
  2. The first firingThe piece goes in raw and comes out biscuit: porous, matt, still without colour. It is the state in which it drinks the glaze.
  3. The brushThe decoration is painted freehand, one piece at a time. It is the step that means two pieces never come out identical.
  4. The second firingTwelve, thirteen hours in the kiln. It cannot go any faster: ceramic heated suddenly shatters. Then it cools on its own, and only then is it opened.
Materials
White earthenware, shaped, painted and glazed
Dimensions
h 8 cm · Ø 27 cm
Clay
White
Decoration
Colombino with curls

How to look after it

A few things, but they have to be respected: it is fired glaze, not plastic.

  • Hand wash
  • Tableware
  • Fruit bowl

On request

Want it different?

Another colour, another size, a piece designed just for you: Tuscany Market Hub handles the request. Write to us, we'll put it into production and come back to you with timings and a price.

Ask for a made-to-order piece

The request goes to Tuscany Market Hub, who pass it on to Il Papavero.
About ten days of work for the large pieces. The kiln alone runs for twelve hours.

From the same hand

Two ways to browse: the same decoration, or the same object in another guise.

Grey centrepiece, close-up of the coils
Grey centrepiece, view from above
The workshop

Marcella and Maria Teresa Lorenzi

Two sisters, a kiln and raw clay. The passion started when they were children and took the serious road at the art school in Firenze; then life closed down a business and brought them back here, to ceramics, with the VAT number reopened and their hands in the clay.

They make two things that do not resemble each other: natural decorations and table centerpieces. All painted by hand, piece by piece, and fired slowly.

Step inside Il Papavero

Their story on MANUARTI

White clay and red clay · painted and glazed by hand · slow twelve-hour firing

All the creations Il Papavero