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.
Table lamp by Aldo Londi for Bitossi ceramiche, 1970s
By Bitossi
Located in SAN PIETRO MOSEZZO, NO
Table lamp by Aldo Londi for Bitossi ceramiche from the 1970s. The table lamp is handcrafted in brown and turquoise gress, the latter part features beautiful ornaments also highlig...
Linen, Stoneware
Aldo Londi for Bitossi Rimini Blue Lamp
By Bitossi
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
A large scale lamp, covered in Rimini blue glaze featuring incised Sgraffito decoration.
Ceramic
$632Sale Price|20% Off
H 24.81 in W 5.12 in D 5.12 in
Bitossi Ceramic Table Lamp by Aldo Londi in creame & blue. 1970s.
By Aldo Londi, Bergboms, Bitossi
Located in Bromma, SE
Mid-century Modern Ceramic Table Lamp by Italian Bitossi for Swedish Bergboms. Hand thrown stoneware during the 1960s. Rough Chamotte structure with a glaze in creamy white. Art pot...
Brass, Enamel
Aldo Londi for Bitossi, Ceramic Table Lamp, Italy, 1960s
By Aldo Londi, Bitossi
Located in Hammarö, SE
This elegant ceramic table lamp was designed by Aldo Londi for Bitossi, one of Italy’s most celebrated ceramic manufacturers. Created during the 1960s, the lamp exemplifies Londi’s d...
Ceramic, Textile
Vintage Italian Table Lamp by Aldo Londi for Bitossi, 1960s
By Bitossi, Aldo Londi
Located in Asaa, DK
Vintage Italian ceramic table lamp by Aldo Londi for Bitossi, 1960s Italian mid-century modern table lamp in Rimini blue glace wit...
Ceramic
Aldo Londi Table Lamp for Bitossi ceramic Italy 1960
By Bitossi
Located in Paris, IDF
Aldo Londi Table Lamp for Bitossi ceramic with Turquoise glazing made in Italy around 1960 Height of the ceramic body incl.socket: 54 cm. Total height 87 cm; Diameter of the shade...
Ceramic
Rimini Blu Ceramic Fish Lamp by Aldo Londi for Bitossi, Italy 1970s
By Aldo Londi, Bitossi
Located in Southampton, NJ
Rare “Rimini Blu” Ceramic Fish by Aldo Londi for Bitossi, Italy, 1970s. Handcrafted in glazed ceramic, the piece captures Londi’s distinctive artistic language: whimsical yet refined...
Metal
Large Ceramic Lamp by Aldo Londi for Bitossi, Italy, 1970s
By Aldo Londi, Bitossi
Located in SAINT-OUEN, FR
Mid-Century Modern Space Age ceramic terracotta table or bedside lamp. Nice rattan wicker raffia shade. Italian design like Ettore Sottsass, Venini, Vistosi, La Murrina, Aldo Nason, ...
Metal
Aldo Londi for Bitossi Table Lamp
By Aldo Londi
Located in Dallas, TX
A ceramic table lamp designed by Aldo Londi for Bitossi .
Ceramic
Substantial Aldo Londi for Bitossi Cocoa, Chocolate & Blue Pottery Table Lamp
By Aldo Londi, Bitossi
Located in Bainbridge, NY
Large Aldo Londi Bitossi hand painted Glazed Ceramic Table Lamp. Featuring a tall, textured bulbous bottle form in textured Cocoa clay accented with hand-painted Chocolate Brown and ...
Earthenware
$1,021Sale Price|43% Off
H 19.3 in Dm 13.78 in
Aldo Londi Ceramic Table Lamp by Bitossi for Bergboms, Italy, 1970s
By Aldo Londi, Bitossi, Bergboms
Located in Valencia, VC
Bitossi by Aldo Londi for Bergboms – Ceramic Table Lamp, Italy, c. 1970s An elegant ceramic table lamp designed by Aldo Londi for Bitossi, produced in Italy in the 1970s for the Swe...
Ceramic, Clay, Earthenware
1970s Table Lamp by Bitossi Ceramiche in glazed ceramic
By Bitossi
Located in Victoria, BC
Produced by Bitossi Ceramiche in Italy during the 1960s or 1970s, this table lamp exemplifies the rich materiality and sculptural character that made Italian ceramic lighting so infl...
Ceramic
$1,120Sale Price / set|20% Off
H 16.15 in Dm 6.7 in
Two Bitossi Table Lamps by Aldo Londi, Gold Glazed Ceramic, Italy, 1970s
By Bitossi
Located in Stockholm, SE
Two Bitossi table lamps, ceramic with 24k metallic glaze. The Bitossi factory mixed 24-karat gold to their gold glazes to achieve the right luster. Original paper label which read: '...
Gold