Like a Fellini movie, the ceramics of the famed Italian company Bitossi Ceramiche embody a creative spectrum that ranges from the playful and earthy to the high-minded and provocative. Based in Florence, Bitossi draws on craft traditions that date back to the 1500s. These find expression in Bitossi pottery that includes artisanal vintage vases and animal figures by the firm’s longtime art director Aldo Londi, as well as the colorful, totemic vessels designed by the high priest of postmodernism, Ettore Sottsass.
Bitossi was incorporated by Guido Bitossi in 1921, though the family began making art pottery in the mid-19th century. In the 1930s, Londi came aboard, bringing with him a mindset that respected time-honored craft, yet looked also to the future. On the one hand, Londi’s perspective fostered the making of Bitossi’s popular whimsical cats, owls, horses and other animal figures, hand-shaped and -carved and finished in a rich azure glaze known as “Rimini Blue.”
But with his other hand, Londi reached out to thoughtful, experimental designers such as Sottsass. After hiring Sottsass to design ceramics for his New York imports company, Raymor, American entrepreneur Irving Richards connected the Milanese design polymath to Londi, who introduced Sottsass to ceramics in the 1950s.
During that decade, some 20 years before he founded the Memphis postmodern design collective in Milan, Sottsass used the Bitossi kilns to create timeless works that manifest both primitive forms and modern geometries. In later decades, Bitossi would welcome new generations of designers, which have included such names as Ginevra Bocini and Karim Rashid.
While always looking forward, Bitossi is firm in their belief that mastery of craft is the first step towards beautiful design. As you will see from the works offered on these pages, that is a winning philosophy.
Find a collection of vintage Bitossi decorative objects, lighting and serveware on 1stDibs.
Aleph Channeled Red Ceramic Vase by Marioni LAB
By Marioni
Located in Milan, IT
A captivating design by Marioni LAB, this glazed ceramic vase reminds of an elongated flower bud reluctant to blossom. Defined by deep grooves repeating themselves at a regular rhyth...
Ceramic
Curve Red Ceramic Vase #4 by Zaven
By Bitossi
Located in Milan, IT
A daring combination of concavities and convexities traces the dynamic profiles of this coral-red ceramic vase, an exclusive piece brimming with sculptural flair. Part of the Curve &...
Ceramic
Tondo Doni Boboda Passion Red Vase by Mario Cioni
By Mario Cioni
Located in Milan, IT
Part of the Boboda collection, this red crystal vase embodies passion. Either alone or displayed alongside power and love, the other two pieces that c...
Glass
Wide Pink and Ochre Vase by Dimorestudio
By DIMORESTUDIO, Bitossi
Located in Milan, IT
This unique vase has a modern appeal thanks to its contemporary wide rectangular shape. This piece will make a striking visual appearance anywhere it is placed and its long slender rectangular opening at its top makes it perfect for holding many flowers. The inside of this handmade ceramic piece is glazed in a subtle pink while the outside is glazed in ocher. Two elements in an antique gold color...
Brass
Bromelia Vase Clear Red
By Corsi Design Factory
Located in Milan, IT
Vase in soft resin and leather designed by Fernando and Humberto Campana in 2010 for the NativoCampana collection. Our pieces will be manufactured after receiving the order, keeping ...
Resin
Colate Glittery Red Vase by Carlo Moretti
By Carlo Moretti
Located in Milan, IT
Distilling glamour while exemplifying glassblowing artistry, this vase mouth-blown of prized red Murano glass is a modern version of the iconic Colate Vase. A statement of eccentrici...
Ceramic
Small I Cinesi Vase in Bright Red by Carlo Moretti
By Carlo Moretti
Located in IT
By putting three layers of glass on one another in three distinct moments colored opaque glass, clear crystal and colored crystal one achieves the amazing effect of a material that p...
Crystal
Standard I Cinesi Vase in Bright Red by Carlo Moretti
By Carlo Moretti
Located in IT
By putting three layers of glass on one another in three distinct moments colored opaque glass, clear crystal and colored crystal one achieves the amazing effect of a material that p...
Crystal
Small I Cinesi Vase in Dark Red by Carlo Moretti
By Carlo Moretti
Located in IT
By putting three layers of glass on one another in three distinct moments colored opaque glass, clear crystal and colored crystal one achieves the amazing effect of a material that p...
Crystal
Standard I Cinesi Vase in Dark Red by Carlo Moretti
By Carlo Moretti
Located in IT
By putting three layers of glass on one another in three distinct moments colored opaque glass, clear crystal and colored crystal one achieves the amazing effect of a material that plays with the light and changes thickness, consistency and chromatic effect. Two-colored objects...
Crystal
Deco Medium Vase in Red by Napoleone Martinuzzi
By Napoleone Martinuzzi, Venini
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Historic vase designed by Napoleone Martinuzzi in opalino glass characterized by round horizontal ribs. The model is proposed in three shades of colour and in three sizes. Rhythm"...
Glass
Surrounded by Red Vase by Paolo Marcolongo
Located in Geneve, CH
Surrounded by Red Vase by Paolo Marcolongo Dimensions: D 38.8 x W 16.7 x H 16.2 cm Materials: Murano Glass and Iron. Paolo Marcolongo was born in Padua in 1956, he attended the A...
Iron
