The architect and designer Nicolaj Diulgheroff authored the project and was responsible for introducing a Bauhaus rationalist dimension in production and design to Ligurian ceramics. Torido Mazzotti’s technical expertise was responsible for the drawings and establishing the slips and colours to transfer the designs onto ceramics.
This tea service was one of the most popular among those made by the historical Giuseppe Mazzotti ceramics laboratory in Albisola Marina, and remained in production, with some variations, for many years over the course of the twentieth century.
This tea service has undergone numerous changes over the many years that it has been on the market. The lid was asymmetrical in the prototype, but was then changed into becoming central to the axis of rotation in order to facilitate its processing. The original decoration was made with oxides and matt glazes with an orange peel effect using airbrushes, brushes and sponges; this has at times been replaced in subsequent replicas with new types of ornamentation.
Exhibitions: “Albisola Futurista. La grande stagione degli anni Venti e Trenta”, curated by F. Buzio Negri, R. Zelatore, Gallarate 23 March- 4 May 2003, Savona 12 July – 30 August 2003; “La ceramica futurista da Balla a Tullio d’Albisola. Opere e documenti”, Upper Albisola, “Manlio Trucco” Ceramics Museum, April 18 – August 31, 2009
This tea service is shown in room 12.
Project: Nicolaj Diulgheroff (Kyunstendil, Bulgaria, 1901 – Turin 1982)
Realization: Torido Mazzotti (Savona 1895 – 1988)
Production: Giuseppe Mazzotti Manufacture
Material: majolica terracotta matt, decorated with colours and glazes
Size: teapot h.16 cm, d. 17.5 cm; milk jug h. 10 cm, d. 12 cm
Brand: under the base of each object M.G.A GMA
Location: Savona Ceramics Museum
On loan
Bibliography: C. Chilosi, L. Ughetto, ”La ceramica del Novecento in Liguria”, pp. 59, 66; F. Buzio Negri, R. Zelatore, Albisola Futurista. “La grande stagione degli anni Venti e Trenta”, exhibition catalogue, Gallarate 2003, pp. 65, 116; C. Chilosi, E. Crispolti (edited by), “La ceramica futurista da Balla a Tullio d’Albisola”. Works and documents, exhibition newspaper, Albisola 2009; C. Chilosi (edited by), “Ceramiche della tradizione ligure. Thesaurus di opere dal Medio Evo al primo Novecento”, Cinisello Balsamo 2011, pp. 271-272
