Production Story

Danish design meets Italian craftmanship in a collaboration between

ferm LIVING and Fornace Brioni, expert terracotta makers of outstanding

artistry. Products are crafted in Gonzaga, a small Italian town steeped

in history and Renaissance culture. The collection comprises clay designs

that are made exclusively by hand using local cotto techniques passed

down through generations.

Founded in 1920 in Gonzaga, Italy, the family-run factory where the

Argilla Wall Lamps, Shape Sculpture Set and Flod Tiles are made is

dedicated to alchemy and produces rustic cotto pieces using earth,

water and fire. Sourced from the floodplains of the Po, Italy’s longest

river that flows eastward from the Cottian Alps to the Adriatic Sea,

the clay is driven to the factory where it is stored in piles outside to

dry naturally in the heat of the Italian sun. When new batches of tiles

are made, the raw clay is moved inside where water is added to make

it malleable and smooth. Natural colouring is added to the clay while

it is wet and surplus double-fired clay is used to create a white, mar-

ble-like pattern.

The clay is then cast by hand in a mould selected from one of hun-

dreds of shapes that line the factory walls, some of which are more

than 100 years old and are used to make church floor tiles. Like a bak-

er dusting a surface with flour to prevent the dough from sticking,

the clay artisans sprinkle sawdust into the mould before adding the

clay and removing air bubbles with a hard blow. Excess clay is then

removed from the edges of the mould with steel wire, and the newly

shaped tiles are removed and placed on drying racks that are then

transported to the drying room.

Inside the dark room, it is almost impossible to discern where the

racks begin and end. Warmed by excess heat from the kiln, which

reaches 1,000° Celsius when fired once weekly, the tiles are left to

air-dry for up to twenty days before heading to the oven. The thicker

the tile and the more water it holds, the longer it needs to dry to en-

sure it does not crack when fired. Once dried, the surface of each tile

is polished to an even finish by a large machine. The thin layer of dust

is brushed away before the tiles are stacked in the kiln. Subsequently

fired for four to five days, the tiles are then covered with a layer of

liquid wax for durability. After one and a half months in the making,

the finished pieces are carefully packed before starting their journey

from Italy to Denmark.

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