FRANCESCO DE MAIO
CERAMICA DI VIETRI
ITALY
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FRANCESCO DE MAIO
CERAMICA DI VIETRI
Handcrafted and hand-decorated majolica tiles reinterpret the historical memory, innovate and create redesigning the ceramic according to new tastes and trends...
info@francescodemaio.it
About Us
About us
SINCE 1494,
AN ANCIENT ART
In the factory of Ceramica Francesco De Maio, the Master decorators still today decorate by hand the majolica tiles, piece by piece.
Ceramica Francesco De Maio rises where the sky melts with the sea and the Amalfi Coast glitters of its many colours. From 1963 it realizes and promotes the beauty of its handmade tiles which tell, towards the excellence of their collections, the culture and the history of its homeland.
Ceramica Francesco De Maio is the century-old heir (since 1494) of a long dynasty of ceramic artists and was born after the marriage between Vincenza Cassetta, Giuseppe’s daughter, master potter born in Vietri sul Mare, and Francesco De Maio, heir himself of an ancient traditional family specialized in the processing between the clay quarries of the handmade “Terracotta” of Ogliara.
Six centuries of experience and ceramic excellence have passed by since 1494 and handed down from generation to generation from the De Maio-Cassetta family, which continues nowadays in the factories of Ceramica Francesco De Maio, to promote the culture, the tradition and the Vietri art using ancient techniques of production that make these ceramics unique and prestigious. Ever since its foundation, the company was appreciated for producing of the hand-decorated tiles, which nowadays still preserve the historical memory of the ancient Vietri “riggiola” (Naples dialect word indicating the typical Vietri ceramic tiles), sometimes reinterpreting it even in a modern style.
Handmade majolica tiles are the expression of the Italian history, each of them having a story to tell.
Each majolica is unique, a work of art.
CERAMIC
AS CULTURE
The majolica tiles are an accurate sample “Made in Italy” for the reference to the artisan quality and for the Italian history behind this project.
Exhibitions
MAXXI MUSEUM ROME
MADRE
NAPLES
MoMA
NEW YORK
LA TRIENNALE MILAN
MADE IN CLOISTER NAPLES
MAD PARIS
DESIGN BIENNALE LONDON
MAD PARIS
As a real excellence and emblem of Italian creativity, Ceramica Francesco De Maio have received many awards.
Rewarded among the "100 Italian Excellences" of 2016, designated as a historic company by C.C.I.A.A. Salerno in 2017 and Ambassador of the Territory of Campania Region in 2018; delegate of Italian creativity in the "World Day of Italian Language" in October 2016; recognized as "World Excellence in Ceramic Art" by Il Giornale newspaper in February 10th, 2017; chosen by La Triennale Design Museum Milano to represent Italy at the first Biennial of Design in London “Utopia by Design” as technical installation White Flag partner; selected for the exhibition “Gio Ponti: L’Infinito Blu”, a focus on Gio Ponti’s designs at La Triennale of Milan in February 2017; favorite by Alessandro Mendini to realize a special ceramic project "Pointillisme" designed and donated to Casa Rossa Museum in Anacapri, Island of Capri, on the occasion of the III edition of “Festival del Paesaggio” in July 2018 and now exhibited in the Madre Museum in Naples; identified by the Chinese artist Liu Jianhua for the scenographic installation of the exhibition “Monumenti” at Made in Cloister of Naples in December 2018; chosen as technical partner to realize three important works at the exhibition “Tutto Ponti, Gio Ponti Archidesigner” at the Musèe des Art Dècoratifs (MAD) of Parigi, in October 2018; selected among the historical icons of Italian design in the first Fattobene PopUp Shop at MoMA Design Store of New York; identified as tecnical partner for an installation at the exhibition “Abitare Italia. Icon of Italian Design” at the Biennial of Design in Porto; sponsor of the exhibition “Gio Ponti. Loving Architecture” at the MAXXI Museum of Rome where, continuing the long research started in the 2018, Ceramica Francesco De Maio was able to reproduce faithfully the famous 25x25cm handmade terracotta tile striped diagonally in white and yellow that Gio Ponti designed in the 50s to floor his home in Via Dezza, Milan.
CERAMIC MUSEUM
FRANCESCO DE MAIO
Glass cases used to preserve the most ancient origins of the handmade works of the Vietri tradition of Ceramica Francesco De Maio.
A basic set-up made of transparencies and plays of light for a wonderful journey throughCeramica Francesco De Maio's history, which preserves the essence of the Made in Italy recognized and appreciated all over the world.
Ink sketches, vintage photographs, tiles with clay amina, 18th-century majolica, drawings, artefacts realized by Giuseppe Cassetta, ceramic panels from the 1940s. Tangible symbols of the ancient work of Vietri ceramics live in the museum together with the precious Gio Ponti’s white and blue majolica Ceramica Francesco De Maio has the exclusive licensee for the production and sale in the world.
A journey through the ceramics that starts the document attesting the sale of 50 oil pitchers made on October 3rd, 1494 by the master of the handmade terracotta Matteo Cassetta. It is an essential document certifying that since the 15th century Vietri sul Mare, a small village located at the entrance of the beautiful Amalfi Coast, is known for the art of producing “bone et impetenate” ceramics.
A production of pottery, amphorae, terracotta bricks, started by the Cassetta family to satisfy the people's daily needs and that over time has evolved towards the handmade realization of majolica terracottas, the so-called “riggiole” used primarily for covering the floors of churches and noble residences.
More than six centuries of history of ceramics, history of passion for the decorations of Vietri culture, love for handmade production, and family history. Next to the museum, it is here that in the factory of Ceramica Francesco De Maio, the master decorators with passion and professionalism still create hand-painted majolica that reinterprets historical memory, innovating and creatively redesigning the collections according to new tastes and tendencies.
A natural “Made in Italy” refers not only to the artisan quality but also to Italian history: majolica, objects and furnishing accessories.
Handmade majolica that are the expression of this history and each of them has a story to tell.
It is very ancient history, a history made of terracotta masters, a family history, the history of the De Maio-Cassetta family that today, as in the past, feeds the art of ceramics.
PHILOSOPHY
FRANCESCO DE MAIO
Since 1494, we continue to give life every day
to the ceramic tradition's values between past, present and future.
We are artisans by choice. We are artisans with an industrial organization.
Our most important facilities are the hands, the hands of our craftsmen.
We are the antithesis of the new digital systems used by big ceramic industries.
We are keepers of secrets and traditions to preserve and maintain this ancient job.
Even today, in the factory our artisans, with passion and know-how,
forge the clay and decorate by hand the majolica tiles piece by piece on the famous White Vietri
(Bianco Vietri) glaze made today with an ancient recipe, handed down from father to son.
Despite the changes in raw materials produced in recent years, this recipe still preserves its composition.
We respect our history, because we are made of history.
We carefully observe the ancient techniques of Vietri ceramic process in order to feed,
with our passion for ceramics' art, all those who know how to admire it and who appreciate
the role of extraordinary importance that the human component has in the realization of our artifacts.
