Mug with two purple thistle heads and the spiny leaves
Tazza

Two cardoons in bloom, and the bracts around them.

Thistle Mug

  • viola
  • bianca clay

€38,50

This piece is one of a kind.

What you see in the photo is what arrives. If you want another, they make it again to order.

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

The piece

Two purple thistle heads with spiky bracts fanned out and gray-green leaves crossing the wall. Engraved and painted on white clay.

The design wraps continuously around the mug without interruption.

How it's made

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

  1. The wheelThe raw clay rises and takes its shape. From here on every gesture stays: ceramic is not corrected, it is remade.
  2. The first firingThe piece goes in raw and comes out biscuit: porous, matt, still without color. It is the state in which it drinks the glaze.
  3. The brushThe decoration is painted freehand, one at a time. It is the step that makes two pieces never come out identical — and that makes this one this one.
  4. The second firingTwelve, thirteen hours in the kiln. You cannot go any faster: ceramic heated all at once explodes. Then it cools on its own, and only then is it opened.
Materials
White painted and enameled earthenware
Clay
Bianca
Decoration
Botanico

How to look after it

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

  • Hand wash
  • Crockery

On request

Want it different?

Another color, another size, a piece made on purpose: Tuscany Market Hub follows the request. Write to us, we put it into production and come back to you with times and 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 look: the same decoration, or the same object in another guise.

The workshop

Marcella e 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

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

All the creations Il Papavero