Bitossi Pedestal
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Jars
Wood, Ceramic, Paint
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Ceramic
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
Vintage 1960s Mid-Century Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
Late 20th Century Italian Post-Modern Ceramics
Ceramic
Recent Sales
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Centerpieces
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Ceramic
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Decorative Bowls
Ceramic
Mid-20th Century Italian Decorative Bowls
Ceramic
People Also Browsed
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Bookends
Ceramic
2010s American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass
2010s American Modern Stools
Wood, Oak
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Art Deco Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vases
Ceramic
Antique 19th Century French Pottery
Pottery
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Table Clocks and Desk Clocks
Metal, Chrome
Antique 19th Century French Pottery
Pottery
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Side Tables
Concrete
2010s Danish Scandinavian Modern Dining Room Chairs
Oak
2010s British Scandinavian Modern Ottomans and Poufs
Oak, Mohair, Velvet
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Fireplaces and Mantels
2010s British Scandinavian Modern Ottomans and Poufs
Mohair, Oak
Vintage 1960s German Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
Metal
Antique 15th Century and Earlier Unknown Organic Modern Natural Specimens
Shell, Organic Material
Mid-20th Century Danish Baroque Dining Room Chairs
Wool, Oak, Bouclé
Bitossi for sale on 1stDibs
Like a Fellini movie, the ceramics of the famed Italian company Bitossi Ceramiche embody a creative spectrum that ranges from the playful and earthy to the high-minded and provocative. Based in Florence, Bitossi draws on craft traditions that date back to the 1500s. These find expression in Bitossi pottery that includes artisanal vintage vases and animal figures by the firm’s longtime art director Aldo Londi, as well as the colorful, totemic vessels designed by the high priest of postmodernism, Ettore Sottsass.
Bitossi was incorporated by Guido Bitossi in 1921, though the family began making art pottery in the mid-19th century. In the 1930s, Londi came aboard, bringing with him a mindset that respected time-honored craft, yet looked also to the future. On the one hand, Londi’s perspective fostered the making of Bitossi’s popular whimsical cats, owls, horses and other animal figures, hand-shaped and -carved and finished in a rich azure glaze known as “Rimini Blue.”
But with his other hand, Londi reached out to thoughtful, experimental designers such as Sottsass. After hiring Sottsass to design ceramics for his New York imports company, Raymor, American entrepreneur Irving Richards connected the Milanese design polymath to Londi, who introduced Sottsass to ceramics in the 1950s.
During that decade, some 20 years before he founded the Memphis postmodern design collective in Milan, Sottsass used the Bitossi kilns to create timeless works that manifest both primitive forms and modern geometries. In later decades, Bitossi would welcome new generations of designers, which have included such names as Ginevra Bocini and Karim Rashid.
While always looking forward, Bitossi is firm in their belief that mastery of craft is the first step towards beautiful design. As you will see from the works offered on these pages, that is a winning philosophy.
Find a collection of vintage Bitossi decorative objects, lighting and serveware on 1stDibs.