The countryside on a plate
- Taticchi learned her craft from a master in Deruta
- Her pieces are exhibited all over Japan
- Her daughter Caterina is a jewellery designer
In Perugia’s Old Town everybody knows Maria Antonietta Taticchi. Her picturesque studio is a splash of colour and beauty where you often find locals and foreign tourists. Maria Antonietta started her career when she was 16. For four years she had the opportunity to learn the secrets of ceramic painting from master Guido Montanari, in Deruta, a well-known centre of maiolica manufacture. After graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts in Perugia, she opened her own workshop in the city centre. “Right from the start, I opted for quality rather than quantity production. The decoration on the ceramic is done by hand with the tip of the brush, making every piece unique”, she explains. A few years ago, her daughter Caterina joined her in the workshop as a ceramic jewellery designer.
Interview
- What are your sources of inspiration?
- Maria Antonietta: I love to paint the countryside that surrounds me, the medieval villages, the Etruscan walls, rivers and lakes, the olive trees, the vineyards, wheat and sunflower fields. In every piece there is my region, Umbria.
- Where does your love for the countryside come from?
- Maria Antonietta: It probably originates from my grandfather, an expert in agriculture. In Umbria, he was an innovator in this field. With his little green car, he often took me to the country roads to observe the crops of wheat and maize with the passionate eye of the farmer.
- How do you work together?
- Caterina: Even if we have two different styles, I learn a lot from my mother, especially from her taste in combining colours. I design ceramic jewellery, necklaces, bracelets, key rings and ceramic bow ties, and I’m about to graduate from the Academy of Fine Arts in Perugia.
- What is the Pink Lamp Project?
- Maria Antonietta: It’s a combination of tradition and technology and a collaboration with a young engineer, Giacomo Benedetti. The lamp’s design is printed in PLA with the use of a 3D printer, then I create the plaster model around the plastic print.
Maria Antonietta Taticchi & Caterina Aquinardi are master artisans: they began their career in 1976 and they started teaching in 2006
Where
Maria Antonietta Taticchi & Caterina Aquinardi
