by Simona Malagoli19   Dicembre   2013

Manifattura Bitossi blows out ninety-two candles!

The Bitossi Artistic Industrial Museum MAIB is celebrating the event with an exhibition

During the 12th edition of the Business Culture Week held from 14-24 November, the Bitossi Artistic Industrial Museum MAIB, since last year an official member of the association Museimpresa, presented an exhibition entitled Linee e colori nel secolo lungo della ceramica Bitossi . Novantadue candeline! Dal 1921 al 2013 (Lines and colours from the history of Bitossi. Ninety-two candles! From 1921 to 2013). A showcase of forms, colours and textures celebrating almost a century of Italian style and taste, this selection of around a hundred ceramic items, plaster pieces and documents illustrates the activities of Manifattura Bitossi from 1921 to 2010.

Room I explores the company’s manufacturing tradition through a kind of chronology in which ceramic products are associated with specific periods in the company’s history. The first section, spanning the period from the company’s foundation through to the Second World War (from 1921 to 1946, Display I), offers a traditional display of ceramic and plaster items with Della Robbia-style decorations, graffito and small items such as vases, boxes and wedding favours.

The ceramic products chosen for Displays II, III, IV and V (from 1950 to 1965) document the launch of new production lines and reveal a focus on new stylistic and colour research. These experiments led to the development of a “modern” style under the artistic guidance of Aldo Londi. This approach continued through the following decade (from 1966 to 1975, Displays VI and VII), then gradually gave way to a more commercial production in keeping with the emerging needs of the market.

The following section (from 1976 to 1999, Displays VIII, IX and X) features traditional, classical items ranging from archaeological to Della Robbian in style and includes dinner services, traditional decorations and porcelain.

Lastly, the period from 2000 to 2010 (Display XI) was marked by the quest for a new company identity through a reinterpretation of table furnishings, from the historicisation of modern lines through to work as a design atelier.

Room II at the MAIB is devoted to the leading designers who have worked with Manifattura Bitossi since 1958. It opens with the great masters Aldo Londi and Ettore Sottsass, followed by the experience of the Memphis group, represented here by a work by Matteo Thun. Part of Bitossi’s output from the eighties and nineties is represented by ceramics by Aldo Cibic, Nathalie Du Pasquier, Marco Zanini and Massimo Giacon. Over the decade 2000-2010, Bitossi Ceramiche began to operate more as a design workshop, maintaining its longstanding collaborations while taking on board new international figures such as Arik Levy, Karim Rashid, Fabio Novembre, Mario Ferrarini and the Bouroullec brothers.

The painstaking process of sampling conducted by Manifattura Bitossi over the years demonstrates the company’s constant focus on the future without losing sight the past, a philosophy that has allowed it to organise splendid exhibitions like this.
The exhibition is open from Monday to Friday from 10.00 to 18.00 and will run until 30 June 2014. Advance booking is required (www.fondazionevittorianobitossi.it).

[caption picture]
Tree-shaped vases and lamp bases in red and blue colours. “Autumn and Summer leaf” decoration, turned, scratched and engraved, 1966, Manifattura Cav. Guido Bitossi & Figli.