Introduction

For this study I chose a particular object, a ceramic lamp, a floor lamp of substantial dimensions (about 160 cm by 85) which, when turned on, shines with a warm, soft, enveloping light and creates an atmosphere of other times, despite being in form and workmanship a current and innovative object.

Even if made in a contemporary factory and even if designed by a young designer, the effect it produces, in those who let themselves be illuminated calmly and without haste, is really that of an object of the past, of calm solemnity that reminiscent of the lotus flowers or the golden Buddhas of the East.

I would like to talk about the 'Nature' floor lamp and I would like to do so through a brief mention to its creator, Lorenzo Zanovello, to the place where it was created, Nove, a town in the province of Vicenza not far from Bassano del Grappa, through the words of this object gives its author and also through the explanation of the procedure that leads it to be, a procedure that if known and understood can only give added value to the object.

Hints to the designer and the place

'I always think of something new' is one of the recurring phrases that Lorenzo loves to pronounce when he talks about himself, his works, his projects. He is a young thirty-year-old artist and designer who lives and works in Nove, and this is not a secondary fact, given that the Venetian town is one of the most important Italian centers for the production of ceramic products.

When I asked him how his ideas are born, where he gets his inspiration from, he simply replied: 'I have my hands in the dough all day, always, the brain is in constant motion, I know the matter perfectly, I know it the limitations, the strengths, the weaknesses… things come out like this' [1]. He speaks of limits but also of novelties in the processing of ceramics, he says that his work is stimulating, always new, always in search

Zanovello has been working for about 10 years in the family factory, Stilnove, and it is he who creates the objects that are offered on the market today. But he neither designs nor works only for the family business, but also for Italian and foreign clients and has collaborated with important Italian designers.

His objects are designed and followed from start to finish, from finishing to assembly to lighting systems to decorations, it is a continuous experimentation, that of Lorenzo, on form, colors, effects, new techniques.

His working material is ceramic, a material with which everything can be done, experimentation with this medium is almost unlimited.

Another strong point of his projects and objects are the measurements: the size of an object in ceramic is particularly difficult to obtain, large objects can only be made if you know the material and its reactions to the various steps in depth. of the creation procedure.

The 'Nature' floor lamp, for example, up to ten years ago would have been impossible to create: for each object it is necessary to know its strengths, the ribs that support it, the large dimensions give rise to pieces that are almost impossible because they are very delicate: 'it can crack, the edge can come down, it will have a hundred liters of pouring in it… there are things to keep in mind, there are things that, as ceramic was like a decade ago, were out of the question' [2].

Experimentation first of all. And innovation. Attempts.

The context, the city in which he lives, was certainly also important for Lorenzo Zanovello's training.

Nove enjoys an undisputed international reputation in the ceramic field, due to its favorable geographical position and the creativity of its inhabitants. The nearby Brenta river and the smaller waterways started the development of the town already in the pre-industrial era, providing motive power, raw materials for construction and ceramic activity.

The production of 'crystalline' ceramics (i.e. engobed, painted and varnished terracotta) began in Nove as early as the end of the 1600s, exploiting the waters of the Brenta river and its tributaries to build 'stone mills' and kilns. The river also supplied errant pebbles of quartz and calcium carbonate. The proximity to Bassano del Grappa, where ceramic production can be traced back to 1500 (the objects produced there can also be seen in the paintings of Jacopo da Ponte), had given rise to the circulation of ideas and knowledge also in the nearby Nove . Towards the middle of the 18th century the Antonibon majolica manufacture had become the most qualified and thriving ceramic industry in the Veneto state, able to employ the citizens of Nove but also to attract workers from Bassano, Venice, Lodi, Milan and France.

Today the situation has changed, few industries remain active, perhaps a dozen, employing about 200 people, while until a few decades ago, only Nove worked about 6000 people (Nove has about 5000 inhabitants) and this makes us understand how important were its production and its context.

  'Nature' floor lamp

This lamp was designed in 2009 by Lorenzo Zanovello, as part of a path and a study that began in 2001 on lamps that use a particular internal lighting system.

Another feature of this floor lamp is its size: it is very difficult for a ceramic object to reach these measurements without compromising its stability or strength, without making it too likely to become fragile.

Although stylized, the model in its floral form seems to resemble a calla lily, its shapes are delicate, the curves harmonious and subtle.

It is an object created for two customers, one Italian and the other foreign, these lamps, both in the smaller version, obviously much more easily marketable, and in the large version, are mainly sold in Scandinavian countries, Sweden, Norway, Finland, but also in Russia, England and Germany.  

The floor lamp, creating a soft ambient light, becomes a unique and innovative element especially as regards the ceramic lighting: it is a different object from the classic lamp with lampshade, even if there are already articles with internal lighting on the market, but these the latter are mainly openwork objects that do not play with curves and shapes as in our case.

There are about 40 models of lamps with internal lighting, with low consumption light bulbs, designed by Lorenzo. The model from which the elaboration that led to our final floor lamp began is a small calla-shaped abat-jour lamp, naturalistic both in its plastic rendering and in the colors. This object, from 2001, was certainly pleasant, but the subsequent modifications and elaborations led to the creation of an even more particular and innovative model.

As I have already mentioned, the soft, organic, simplified but at the same time elegant shapes contribute to make the 'Nature' floor lamp a precious design object, which contrast a little with the geometric coldness of certain contemporary objects, but the novelty of its production, the large dimensions so difficult to create and sustain in the processing of ceramics, as well as the atmosphere it manages to create, the enveloping light it emanates are innovative features and strengths that increase, in my opinion, its value and beauty.

If decorated and finished in gold, the light it emanates is soft, ambient, reading, enveloping and warm. If finished in silver or platinum, the light becomes colder, clearer and more perceptible and also the overall effect of the floor lamp changes, becoming a source of bursting and not suffused light. The same object, depending on how it is finished, can be said to almost change in appearance.

The internal light system has been studied and modified several times, to reach a point of balance where the bulb is not seen and the light is reflected.

Zanovello explained to me that in addition to an aesthetic aspect, that rib, that slight curve that defines the upper part of the floor lamp is also a functional support, without that curve the shape would not hold up, it would become too fragile, it would bend on itself or break. Lorenzo said he had gradually modified the effects and smoothed out the defects, until he arrived at the finished product, the effect he wanted, he was looking for.

So the designer explained to me the final solution of the floor lamp: 'if you don't create the basin, the light won't reflect, I have gradually changed and reduced the defects, now the shape is what I was looking for. For example in the former  there were difficulties for the installation of the bulbs that did not fit, due to the size, so you understand where to change, how to make them more 'right'. For example, for the floor lamp, I know where to make thicker and where I can thin: the nerve at the top is fundamental, if it were not there, the floor lamp would break immediately, it would burst just putting it inside the box, it is very fragile. The thickness will be about one centimeter, but it is not the thickness that makes it sturdy, it does not change from a centimeter or one and a half, indeed if it were thicker then I would have problems in the dryer. You risk breaking it. It is necessary to go a bit 'by trial and error, by successive approximations to the form sought, desired.' [3]

In terms of timing, the small lamps can be ready and shipped in about four days, for the large ones, the floor lamps, the times get longer, the procedures become more delicate. The drying and resting times are extended and it takes about ten days to create a finished and decorated 'Nature' floor lamp.

Even the decoration with gold leaf is a particular and innovative technique in ceramics: typical of Lorenzo is the experimentation in the various stages of decoration or firing, to study and understand the different reactions of the material. In this case nothing is wasted of the gold leaf, there are no scraps, the crumbs, the residues are taken and glued again to the surface of the lamp, creating that beautiful effect of glossy-opaque, translucent, smooth and rough to the touch, all side by side. or overlapped unevenly.

The decoration contributes to the diffusion of light, embellishes it, warms it, attenuates it, makes it pleasant and enveloping.

Enforcement proceedings

I would now like to focus for a moment on the executive procedure that leads to the creation of the 'Nature' floor lamp, because I believe that this can serve to enhance or appreciate the final product more.

Lorenzo has repeatedly repeated that his work is fast, it is a work of casting, of inspiration. He rarely uses projects, he rarely makes sketches, only if he has to present them to a client, but usually it is the hands that work, which create directly, giving shape to the uneven material, going to model the clay according to his own mental design, shaping the earth to recreate the shape he has in mind.

This is why his is a trial and error process, by successive approximations to the final object.

When the form is created, when the thought has materialized, then the mold is obtained from this object, the plaster negative into which the liquid clay will be poured.

The dough, or the preparation of the clay, of the raw material made liquid, is in fact the first thing to do.

Casting is the next phase in which the clay is poured into the plaster mold and is left there ... the more it is left, the thicker the object increases: the mold which is made of plaster absorbs the water, pulls out the water from casting.

The latter is a technique introduced in the manufacture of ceramics since the 1950s and has become the symbol of the transition from artisanal manufacturing to a more modern and industrial one.

The emptying takes place when the thickness to be given to the object has been decided. Each piece, each object has its own  particular thickness, in relation to the seal or design.

Then the mold is opened, but the object is still left in place for a few hours because it has to take air, dry out at least a little, but not too much, otherwise it will no longer be possible to work it. The next phase is the finishing of the raw: remove, by hand, the smudges, the excesses. At this point the piece is placed in the dryer: a chamber specially built to suck the humidity and allow the object to dry, at this moment all the holes, the open pores of the clay must be closed, otherwise the piece during cooking it can burst.

The oven is the last step.

In our case then, before the decoration, there is the assembly of the internal lamp.

The decoration, here in gold leaf or gold-like, takes place with the particular technique of which I wrote earlier: using also the gold residues, the leftovers, so as not to throw anything away, this procedure gives rise to a somewhat blurry and irregular effect. warm and pleasant.

               Conclusion

For this study, I wanted to choose a simple and commonly used object, such as a lamp, to research in the conception and processing of it, those things, those details that, as in this case, can make a common object a particular object.

Surely the dimensions, and connected to this the difficulty of this work in the technique of ceramics, can help to make, in this context and with this material, a unique, innovative and precious piece of 'Nature'.

But these are not the only things that interested and struck me, I could say that perhaps the most fascinating side of this floor lamp is the effect that the light creates by reflecting itself in its golden curve. And also the fact that this piece is made of ceramic, one of the first mediums used by man, ennobled over the centuries but which still manages to amaze in the procedures, in the execution techniques, in the use that it can find even in a contemporary context. .

Even the fact that this floor lamp is almost a sculpture, so important is its presence in a room, almost a not very discreet piece of furniture but at the same time very silent, suffused, enveloping. The gold finish contributes to this, which makes it look like a bygone era, which creates reflections that lighten the considerable mass of the object, it will be the sliding of the light in the rippled surface of the gold-like decoration all irregularities to place, in my opinion, this object in a borderline place between ancient and artisanal creation and modern, industrial, mass production. In series, yes, but with some small differences between one piece and another that brings out its beauty and accentuates its particularity.

Ceramics can also, as in this case, be mass-produced but always preserve the flavor of the craftsmanship that created and conceived it.

Bibliography

-Brugolo K., Ceramics in the Veneto, ed. Cierre Grafica, Verona, 2004

-interview with Lorenzo Zanovello, Nove, June and December 2010

-consultations from the internet

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