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.
$180 / item
Square Blue Ashtray by Aldo Londi
By Bitossi
Located in Milan, IT
Square ashtray crafted with a pressed white refractory clay base from the Rimini Blue series. Features a distinctive pattern achieved through stamp incision beneath a glossy bright b...
Ceramic
$1,010
H 2 in W 8 in D 4 in
Aldo Londi Bitossi Rosenthal Netter Ceramic Box, Stripes, Labels, Italy 1960s
By Rosenthal Netter, Bitossi
Located in New York, NY
Aldo Londi for Bitossi lidded box, Italy, 1960s. Small scale ceramic box decorated with an angular geometric pattern in yellow, white, and black over a brown glaze. Retains two paper...
Ceramic
Aldo Londi Bitossi Ceramic Ashtray, Blue & Gold, Safety Pin, 1960s
By Bitossi, Aldo Londi
Located in New York, NY
Aldo Londi Bitossi Ceramic Ashtray, Blue & Gold, Safety Pin, 1960s. Small to medium scale deep ashtray with three cigarette rests. Decorated with a pattern of gold glazed safety ...
Ceramic
$431Sale Price|30% Off
H 1.38 in W 5.52 in D 5.52 in
Italian Midcentury square Rimini Blu Ceramic Ashtray by Aldo Londi for Bitossi
By Aldo Londi, Bitossi
Located in Vienna, AT
iconic Italian modern ceramic ashtray from the Rimini Blu series designed by Aldo Londi for Bitossi Italy. It is in beautiful original condition. The Italian Ceramic Artist Aldo Lon...
Ceramic
$2,274Sale Price|20% Off
H 5.12 in Dm 5.12 in
Bitossi Aldo Londi Rimini Blue Ceramic Set of Vase, Ashtray and Candleholder
By Aldo Londi, Bitossi
Located in Barcelona, ES
A beautiful handmade Rimini blue glazed ceramic set of three pieces. Designed by Aldo Londi and manufactured by Bitossi, Italy, 1960s. The set is comprised by a round ashtray, a bott...
Pottery, Terracotta, Ceramic
$1,776
H 9.85 in Dm 7.49 in
Sic Rimini Blu Glazed Ceramic Large Lidded Vessel / Box Bitossi Aldo Londi Style
By Bitossi, Aldo Londi, SIC Ceramiche Artistiche
Located in Barcelona, ES
Large Mid-Century Modern blue glazed ceramic (Rimini Blu) round lidded box , Manufactured by S.I.C Ceramiche Italy, 1950-1960s. It has reminiscences in those Rimini blue designs from Aldo Londi and Bitossi...
Ceramic, Pottery, Terracotta
Bitossi Aldo Londi Rimini Blue Ceramic XL Round Centerpiece Bowl Ashtray
By Bitossi, Aldo Londi
Located in Barcelona, ES
Blue glazed (Rimini Blu) ceramic large ashtray designed by Aldo Londi and manufactured by Bitossi. Italy, 1950-1960s. It was handcrafted in Italy with hand carved geometric design ...
Pottery, Terracotta, Ceramic
$975
H 2.38 in W 8 in D 4 in
Aldo Londi for Bitossi Italian Mid-Century Ceramic Box -- Fused Glass Fish Motif
By Aldo Londi, Bitossi
Located in Minneapolis, MN
Here is a richly textured and visually compelling Italian ceramic box by Aldo Londi for Bitossi, dating to the mid-20th century and retailed by Raymor. The rectangular form is distin...
Ceramic
Aldo Londi Bitossi Ceramic Box, Mid-Century Modern, Italy, 1960s
By Bitossi, Aldo Londi
Located in New York, NY
Aldo Londi Bitossi Ceramic Box, Mid-Century Modern, Italy, 1960s. Small scale Mondrian box decorated with rectangles and lines and glazed in red, yellow, and black. Signed faintly on...
Ceramic, Clay
$345Sale Price|35% Off
H 3.15 in Dm 7.49 in
Bitossi Large Ashtray by Aldo Londi, Rimini Blu Ceramic, Italy, 1960s
By Aldo Londi, Bitossi
Located in Valencia, VC
Large Round Bitossi Ashtray by Aldo Londi – Rimini Blu, 1950s-60s A stunning Mid-Century Bitossi ashtray by Aldo Londi, featuring the house’s signature Etruscan-inspired sgraffito d...
Ceramic, Clay, Earthenware
$1,950
H 2.25 in W 8 in D 4 in
Ceramic Box by Aldo Londi Bitossi, Italy, C 1960, Orange with Gold Decoration
By Bitossi
Located in New York, NY
Decorative ceramic box by Aldo Londi Bitossi, Italy, circa 1960. Signed at the bottom, 79/11, Italy. Organic designs on the lid with gold decorations.
Ceramic
$890
H 2.25 in Dm 9.5 in
Aldo Londi Bitossi Very Large Round Rimini Blue Glazed Midcentury Ashtray, 1950s
By Bitossi, Aldo Londi
Located in Vienna, AT
A beautiful, decorative midcentury Rimini blue glazed ashtray. Very large, has a diameter of 9 1/2 inches, Designed by Aldo Londi, manufactured by Bitossi Ceramiche / Italy in the 19...
Ceramic, Stoneware, Terracotta
Aldo Londi Bitossi Lacrima Vase, Blue Turquoise Ceramic, 1960s
By Bitossi, Aldo Londi
Located in New York, NY
Bitossi vase, ceramic, blue turquoise, impressed, textured, signed. Medium scale chunky vase from Aldo Londi's 'Lacrima' series. Its body is decorated with a relief pattern of impres...
Ceramic