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TELLURIDE

“If I was to establish a system, it would be, that Mountains are produced by Volcanoes, and not Volcanoes by Mountains.”

Sir William Hamilton


Observations on Mount Vesuvius, Mount Etna, and other Volcanoes (1774)


The relationship between craft and the environment is one with never ending ramifications. What binds the objects of one place to the characteristic of the place itself intertwines the historical, geological and social aspects of humanity as well as the uniqueness and simplicity of every-day life. The field of investigation is always expanding, as endless and unique as there are ways of life.
The lands and corners of cities we live in shape us. Their geography, customs and vices become our own. We try to imprint ourselves as well upon the land, and we succeed, from time to time. Pozzuoli is a small village on the outskirts of Naples, with one of the highest population density on top of an active caldera in the world. 150.000 people on top of 24 active craters, Pozzuoli is a tailpipe for the land it was built on. Older than the foundation of Rome, it is a place where history is difficult to avoid. You can see the layers of cities before, civilisations lost to the power in nature.
The investigation of alternative solutions through the study of folklore and natural events is one of the key elements of Tellurico’s practice. This project, ‘’Telluride’’, presents the first results of a specific material research that looks into the possibilities of using volcanic rocks as a combined element with porcelain clay and high-firing glazing.
During the firing, the lava melts breaking the porcelain structure and creating an organic and unexpected texture. The two structures components bond together and the material result is solid and with a high resistance to impacts.
The Lava was gathered on the hills of the Phlegrean Fields, in the North of Naples. South Italy. “Telluride” is an on-going project, that continues with the creation of a full range of design objects of different size and function.

For info and request please contact:
info@tellurico.com

















Solfatare, Campi Flegrei  2017







- VOLCANIC PORCELAIN -



In the first part of the material research, it is been analysed the possibility to use lava stones as a component in the porcelain mixture.


- RAW-Material - Lava rocks sample collected on the volcanic hills of Campi Flegrei, Campania, South of Italy. The Campi Flegrei have more than twenty-four active volcanos.
The soils and the rocks of this hills, even if geographically very close to each other, have deeply different chemical composition.










Exhibition Galleria Salvatore Lanteri, Milano 2018


Studying the chemical composition of the two materials (porcelain and lava) I noticed that they partially share a similar chemical composition. Through this observation, I arrived at the idea to treat the Lava as a ceramic material. During the firing, the two structure bond together and the final results is a stronger new material. This pictures shows the first working results of almost one-year experimentation.






- BLACK VOLCANIC PORCELAIN -














- VOLCANIC GLAZING -


In the second part of the material research, I analysed the possibility to use lava stones as a full ceramic hi-firing glazing.




One of the reasons why It has been chosen the egg as shape to work with is that in a Neapolitan legend, the mermaid Partenope, broken-hearted after Ulysses resists her charms, laid an egg before dying on the peninsula of Megaride; lately the egg was discovered by the poet and alchemist Virgilio and then hidden under the Castrum Lucullanum (now Castel dell’Ovo) to avoid it falling into the wrong hands. The egg contains all the beauty of the city, which would crumble if the egg would break.





  • Galleria Salvatore Lanteri, Milan
  • Italian Pavillion, Barcelona
  • Biennale Architettura, Venice
  • Zoya Museum, Bratislava
  • Casavelles, Girona
 



VOLCANIC PORCELAIN / VOLCANIC GLAZING / PORCELAIN / TELLURICO
Mark