Clay, an artistic soul embodied in an armchair

Q: Clay continues the material experimentation seen in earlier projects. What drew you to ceramics for this piece?
A: Clay’s project, the name itself says it, started from the idea of once again using an ancient material of infinite applications, (as glass had been in the enamels on copper of “Mangiafuoco,” also by Zanellato and Bortotto).
Clay was a perfect material for its performance, especially in the manual workings of the artisans of Veneto, historically at the service of the noble families of the Serenissima for all the ceramics of the house, and now proud continuers of that tradition.

Q: Clay’s colour palette and finishes feel almost atmospheric. What inspired this delicate balance of materials and shades?
A: And so again Venice, its transparencies and shades, tender overlays of colors and memories…
Liquid and highly polished colors as only in glazed ceramics, that are a counterpoint to natural wood and fabrics, solid, structural, opaque materials.
What a brilliant idea to put a painting of water and sky inside an armchair! And not blatantly in view, but appearing afterwards, behind, as a great unthinkable surprise!!!

Q: How do you define design within your company’s philosophy?
A: Design is thought, desire that becomes a project, notes for a production process.
Our company loves these paths, trying to give life to thoughts and desires even, indeed, possibly, far from the obvious.

“Design is thought, desire that becomes a project”

– Patrizia Moroso

About the project

Soft shapes of sophisticated simplicity and research on materials meet in an armchair that balances design and art.

Experimentation that began with the Mangiafuoco collection continues this year with the Clay armchair, the outcome of research on ceramics by Zanellato/Bortotto and Moroso allied to a desire to recreate an ancient association through revival of rare manufacturing techniques.

Like enamel, clay is an ancient material strongly associated with fire, which fixes its colour and final form.

 In the historic ceramic district of Nove, a town in the Veneto Region of Italy, slabs and thin sheets of ceramic material, hand-made with age-old skills, are decorated with precious glazes and lustres.

These artefacts are used, in a novel way, in backrests for elegant upholstered armchairs of proportional simplicity and soft forms that ensure high levels of comfort. Each has the unexpected charm of a small work of art perfectly set in a textile frame. A linear oak or walnut base acts as a pedestal, supporting the seat as if it were a volume suspended mid-air.

The collection includes four small tables, each different in size and type of use. The base and top frame, in oak or Canaletto walnut, allow a refined combination with both the Clay armchair and the Mangiafuoco coffee table.