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At this year’s Clerkenwell Design Week in London, leading Italian ceramics maker Iris Ceramica Group paid tribute to the Bottega d’Arte project by showcasing traditional techniques and skills as a way of encouraging waste-free production.
Leading Italian ceramics producer Iris Ceramica Group (ICG) transformed its London showroom, ICG Gallery, into an immersive artistic hub for the 2024 edition of one of the UK’s foremost design festivals, Clerkenwell Design Week. A series of events and workshops took over the gallery, which temporarily became an ‘atelier’ – or ‘bottega’ in Italian – to reflect on the theme of Bottega in Bloom, in homage to the Bottega d’Arte collection by Iris Ceramica, a brand of Iris Ceramica Group.
The multi-level, multi-sensory experience was a tribute to the collection, which celebrates the handcrafted and traditional. At its core is the notion of circularity and the process of evolving waste materials into something precious and beautiful. This exquisite collection of terracotta was the result of explorations and experimentations with traditional craft techniques, and a paean to the raw beauty of the handmade. Inspired by the sense-provoking, deeply intimate experience of entering a craftsperson’s workshop, it’s a tangible distillation of scent and shape into ceramic form. Both the collection and the installation crystallise ICG’s innovative spirit, and the value the company places upon heritage and craft.
During the festival, visitors were invited to immerse themselves in the Bottega d’Arte experience and ethos, bringing waste materials such as flowers and the byproducts of ceramic pieces back to life. In the process, they temporarily became artists and craftspeople themselves, and rediscovered traditional techniques and skills. The hands-on experience was a continuum of ICG’s dedication to sustainability, and the group’s belief in harmony between mankind and nature.
London-based multidisciplinary artist Lola Lely led a workshop guided by the concept of ‘suspended in time’. Using real flowers obtained from the capital’s markets and natural waxes made from plants and honey, she helped participants unleash their creativity with colour and shape, immersing flowers in the wax to reveal parallels with the versatility and never-ending opportunities offered by ceramics. Lely also contributed an installation of flowers suspended with waxed materials, immersing guests in a whirlwind of fragrance, colour and tactility.
Meanwhile, another immersive experience, Hacked Surfaces, encouraged guests to reflect on circularity by contributing to a collective installation that progressively evolved throughout the festival. Visitors made their mark on the artwork, created using production waste, using a variety of traditional techniques, including terrazzo and ikebana. The work – which wasn’t considered ‘finished’ until the end of the festival and remained on show for the duration – progressively changed and evolved over several days.
For the full length of Clerkenwell Design Week, the ICG Gallery also became an exhibition space for the company’s latest materials. Across three floors, an assemblage of new surfaces – including glazed surfaces, pastel colours, unorthodox weaves and patterns – were on display, highlighting the ceramic possibilities being imagined by ICG.
At the same time as the ICG Gallery was being reborn as an atelier, the group took over a room in nearby The Old Session House, a heritage-listed building that’s the nucleus of Clerkenwell Design Week. There, ICG showcased Bottega d’Arte – a project by Iris Ceramica, a brand of the group – in a multisensory installation inspired by the workshops of traditional craftspeople, using bold colours and tactile design to bring the realm to life. The spirit of the age-old ceramic-glazing process – used to prolong the life of ceramics – was reinvented in a striking installation in which flowers were set in wax, momentarily stopping time for these organic wonders.
Iris Ceramica Group showcased Bottega d’Arte in a multisensory installation inspired by the workshops of traditional craftspeople, using bold colours and tactile design to bring the realm to life.
