Rooted in the volcanic foothills of Northern Campania, our Italian Terracotta Tiles are handcrafted by a small firm whose founder first fell for ceramics in his middle school art class. After training formally at the Art Institute in Cascano in the 1970s, and later deepening his technical knowledge at artisan workshops in Rome, he established this studio in the 1980s and has been honing his craft ever since.

For more than four decades, the workshop remains intensely personal and deliberately small-scale with a team of just five. As a Master of Ceramic Arts, the founder lives on site and still hand paints much of the collection himself, bringing the same curiosity to his work that first drew him to the medium as a child. He takes equal pleasure in the repetition of painting traditional motifs and in the challenge of translating a customer’s vision into a bespoke project.

Available in 30 colours and more than 50 shapes, from flat formats to trims, the process begins with wet clays, which are purified to remove impurities before being kneaded to eliminate air pockets. The clay is then pressed into wooden and plaster of Paris moulds with a weighted roller to form tiles and trims, which are stacked and air-dried for several weeks. This slow drying cannot be rushed, as it allows moisture to escape evenly before the first firing hardens the clay into that classic terracotta tone.

Though tiles can be ordered as raw terracotta, the founder’s hand-painted finish gives this collection its distinctive character. A white base coat is first applied to tile on a dipline, while more complex trims are dipped by hand. Patterns are painted freehand, traced over graphite outlines or applied with stencils, while plain trims may be sprayed or hand brushed. There’s a loose elegance to the maker's brushstrokes, which are visible and create subtle variation when tiles are applied across a wall or floor.

Glazes are opaque and serve not only as decoration but also to protect the piece from wear, and to facilitate easier cleaning and maintenance. After the surface has been glazed, the painted decoration is usually done by hand with a brush and ceramic colours. These colours are obtained from mineral oxides or metal oxides with the addition of fluxes or hardeners. Decorated tiles are then returned to the kiln for a second firing, which sets the colour in place.

The result is a collection that carries the marks of this small studio from start to finish and feels completely unique from the mass-production of a printed porcelain — or even from our other hand-painted collections. The glazes are quite different to our Hanley collection, for example. These nuances are an homage to the founder's lifelong passion for craft.