CRAZY CRETIC GLAZES | Giovanni Cimatti

Sweet Raku is an idea that Giovanni Cimatti came up with in the late 1990s and which differs from so-called Raku in that it has reduced fumigation and the use of chamotte-free clays.

Giovanni Cimatti's sweet raku in some of its declinations. During the course, forms will be made that simultaneously and in a single firing will have the orange colour of 'sealed earths', the transparencies of copper and non-copper crystallines, the lustres in copper reduction in gas kiln firing and the black of Raku smoke.

Giovanni Cimatti Giovanni Cimatti was a teacher at the Art Institute in Siena, director of the 'T. Minardi' School of Drawing and Plastic Art in Faenza and teacher at the State Art Institute for Ceramics in Faenza. He began his artistic activity in the 1970s, developing a personal research on the relationship between form and surface by reworking various techniques such as sangam clay decorations, raku, decalcomania, and terra sigillata, and for years he has also been interested in high temperature. He has been invited to important international ceramic art exhibitions, has held solo exhibitions by invitation in Belgium, Japan, Holland, Korea and Switzerland and has participated in cultural exchanges in France, Japan and Germany. He has had solo exhibitions: at the Museum of Contemporary Art at Kyungshung University in Pusan, Korea, at the Ceratekno Gallery in Toki City, Japan, and at the Museo Civico Archeologico in Bergamo.

The 14-hour course starts at 9 a.m. and ends at 5 p.m. on Saturday and starts at 9 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m. on Sunday.

Porcelain is a material with many qualities: transparency, whiteness, hardness; to enhance them is to have understood its nature. In this course, different techniques will be addressed, the first step towards being able to move freely within the production processes of porcelain. Casting, plastic modelling, moulding and glazing are the bases from which both objects of use and sculptural masses can be created. Porcelain in liquid form and in the plastic state will be worked with or without the aid of plaster moulds into small shapes, analysing for each phase: time, criticality and potential. Each participant, at the end of the course, will have broadened and clarified his or her knowledge of the physical and technical properties of 'white gold' and will be able to choose the working method most suited to his or her imagination.

Etra Masi He graduated in Sculpture from the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples, where he expanded on the theme of "contaminations" and investigated the relationship between sculpture and architecture. When he arrived in Faenza in 2015, he came into contact with the ceramic tradition, deepening his knowledge of craft techniques. Porcelain becomes his material of choice, he builds his sculptures by modelling them by hand, everything revolves around the enhancement of the tactile dimension, the gesture writes the sign. Her work is featured at trade fairs, exhibitions and international art competitions. In 2021 she is selected for The Blanc de Chine International Ceramic Art Award in Hangzhou Winland Center, China; in 2019 she receives an Honourable Mention for the International Biennial of Ceramic Art of Aveiro, Portugal.

The 20-hour workshop lasts from 9.00 to 17.00 on Saturday and Sunday and from 9.00 to 16.00 on Monday.

Teacher: Etra Masi Languages: Italian

Download the full program in pdf

To confirm your inscription you have to make a bank transfer of a deposit or the total amount.

This workshop is created to provide participants fundamental techniques for creating three-dimensional works in porcelain. Participants will explore the interrelationships of form, surface, and texture, allowing them to uncover the inner layers of objects. A key focus will be on obtaining primary colors from white porcelain using various technical approaches. These colors, combined with scale and movement, will create rhythm and continuous motion. Participants will create details that, when taken individually, are small elements, but when repeated, will transform into a single organism that expresses movement. Ani Qananyan, through her work, primarily examines the effect of time on each object of nature and their transformations that arise from that relationship. She also explores the cyclical processes in nature, highlighting how these cycles influence the development and perception of her artistic creations. Thus, participants will not only acquire technical skills but also engage with the relationship between time, material, and the cycling processes in nature, leading to deeper understanding and creative approaches.

Ani Qananyan Ani Qananyan is an Armenian ceramic artist. She graduated from the Panos Terlemezian Fine Arts College with a degree in Painting and later earned both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the State Academy of Fine Arts of Armenia, Faculty of Decorative and Applied Arts. She is a member of the International Academy of Ceramics (IAC), the Artists’ Association of Armenia, and is featured in the Homo Faber Guide. Ani Qananyan has participated in numerous exhibitions both in Armenia and internationally. In 2018, her works were presented at the Istanbul Biennial, and in 2019 she exhibited at the Dada Museum in Israel, where her ceramic series was later included in the museum’s permanent collection. Her recent exhibitions include Bloom (Contemporary Istanbul, 2022), Art Week (Istanbul, 2022), Selections 1 (Istanbul, 2022), Cycle (Faenza Art Ceramic Center, Italy, 2025), and the 63rd Faenza Prize (Italy, 2025). One of her works created during her residency at the Faenza Art Ceramic Center is now part of the permanent collection of the International Museum of Ceramics in Faenza. Qananyan’s ceramic practice unfolds through several distinct thematic and formal directions. Her works are deeply inspired by nature — she explores the passage of time, natural transformations, and the cyclical processes that shape organic forms. Texture plays a central role in her artistic language, often evoking microscopic elements or geological structures. A recurring motif in her art is the cyclical nature of existence — where every ending becomes a new beginning, forming an infinite loop. Working primarily with porcelain, she highlights the material’s delicacy and its ability to reflect light.

The 20-hour workshop lasts from 9.00 to 17.00 on Saturday and Sunday and from 9.00 to 16.00 on Monday.

Teacher: Ani Qananyan Languages: English, Italian

Download the full program in pdf

To confirm your inscription you have to make a bank transfer of a deposit or the total amount.

Complete theoretical and practical course on the formulation and application of basic glazes and the processes to create the own glazes with crystals. The program of the Crystal Glazes of the expert José Maria Mariscal provides the formulations of glazes and frits best suited to the cristals, the theory on crystallizations, temperatures, applications and methods of firing, reduction and post-reduction, treatments with acids and the formulation for red backgrounds.

José Maria Mariscal José Maria Mariscal, borns in the ceramics citty La Bisbal d'Empordà, Spain is the son of a potter. After a long experience as a jiggerman, he opened his potter studio in 2003 and experimented with engobes, raku, copper and crystal glazs and collaborated with artists Peter Ilsey and Manolo Sierra. He has participated in various fairs, masterclasses and symposiums in the United States, Europe, Israel and Australia.

I find the perfection of crystalline glazes with the perfect amount of crystalls between the backround and the surface. My forms are classic and conservative and I have the ability to control the placement of the crystalls in the surface. I can’t stop to research in Crystalline glazes and I Love to experiment this technique in my gaz kiln. Now I am working in reduction in crystalline glazes and the most important: developping crystalls in reduction and my first attempts gives me very exiting results.

The 20-hour workshop lasts from 9.00 to 17.00 on Monday and Tuesday and from 9.00 to 16.00 on Wednesday.

Download the CV of José Maria Mariscal Download the full program in pdf

To confirm your inscription you have to make a bank transfer of a deposit or the total amount.