Milan: Ceramica Bella

As you may have already gathered from my posts, I have a soft spot for beautiful ceramics. I love the fact that they come from the earth yet attain such ethereal perfection under the right hands.


Rina Menardi is a new discovery for me. She has a range of vases, bowls and serving plates that strike a beautiful balance between delicate porcelain and rustic pottery. The red pieces were absolute show stoppers.

Seletti has also launched a fun line of ceramics that looks as if it found its inspiration in disposable containers and cartons.

Hering Berlin

I came across this beautiful porcelain collection by Hering Berlin at Maison & Objet and the photographs really do not do it justice. Most of the work is very delicate with soft edges and curves.


Every piece in the collection is unique. Each is hand made or moulded on the wheel, and the surface decoration washed out manually. They also offer a bespoke service.



Hering Berlin was created in 1999 by Stefanie Hering together with her husband, the architect Götz Esslinger, and ceramics specialist Wiebke Lehmann.


They also make some lovely free standing lamps.

Translucent Porcelain Lighting

I find the use of translucent porcelain in contemporary lighting exquisite. Delicate shapes and monumental forms take on a soft warm glow as they are illuminated from within the unglazed ceramic.



Here are two examples by a company called Diffuse that is based in the UK and owned by Jason and Lucy Boatswain. They slip cast their own porcelain and make pendants, wall lights, lamps and chandeliers. A lot of their pieces are custom designed like the chandelier shown (above), but there are many amazing stock designs to choose from as well (right).



The Cibola Pendant light by Scabetti (Dominic Bromley) is another striking example of how porcelain lighting can take on a sculptural quality.

Beaux Objets

While I am on the theme of avant-garde art movements, these stunning ceramics from Kose, that I came across at Maison Objet in January, look as if they escaped from a cubist still life. The vases are handcrafted with a thin clay and each one is painted with water-colours or finished with precious metal effects: platinum, shiny grey-green or copper. They can also be enamelled inside to be filled in with water. The placement and combination of these beautiful shapes are limitless... Make your own still life.

The designer behind Kose is Rosaria Rattin, who also designs beautiful things for ISI.