About

Bottega Krua made ceramics with love and passion!

We are Bottega Krua and we create raku and traditional pottery products. We create ceramic bowls, vases, plates, coffee mugs and raku pottery necklaces. We are Arianna and Giada from Italy, and this is an interview about Bottega Krua story.

How is your brand called and what does it represents?

Our brand is called Bottega Krua.
“Krua” is composed by letters that spell the word raku, but it also means raw in the Venetian dialect. Raw as the clay that we manipulate to create our objects. It’s about a different range of handicraft made by raku ceramics, from jewelry to pottery and china.

How did you meet and how did you get the idea to take up this experience together?

We met while we were attending the same class at the Art Institute, then we kept in touch thanks to the passions we’ve always shared. Just for fun, three years ago we decided to participate in one of the raku workshops that were held at the Bottega del Tornio in Marostica (Vi) by the master ceramist Nico Toniolo. The enthusiasm and the passion for this technique carried us here.

In which way did you learn to generate your own creations?

Having attended the Art Institute we already assimilated a few basic notions, so a little at a time,
experimenting and trying, along with the valuable advice of the Master Toniolo we began to
understand that this technique could lead us to create objects really interesting and with a potentially enormous craftsmanship value.

How did your studies and/or experience, even working, helped or stimulated this new activity?

Our studies have been essential for the creation of new interests. It was also fundamental to live in the surrondings of Nove, famous land of ceramic, and to keep our relationships with other artists and potters, that helped us having a comparison between different styles and learning new tips about technique and aesthetics.
Working in the world of communication and art assisted us in being well-trained and this has always been a great help in the creation of our pieces.
In addition, we are always trying to do as much as possible to be completely independent in the realization of our works. As an example, we attended a potter’s wheel class that gave us the possibility to achieve further authenticity to our job.

Where do you draw inspiration from? Who and/or what is your muse?

I would say that many things are born from the inspiration of the moment, while others are designed before the execution. Anything can inspire us, an image, a color of a ruined door, the pattern of a particular fabric, a melody in a situation of extreme serenity, but especially observing everything that surrounds us. There is no point denying that also the web is an unlimited source of ideas,
the important thing is to focalize and pick up something new, because we strongly believe that contaminations give birth to very interesting creations.

Which are the techniques and the materials that you used?

In kneading the clay we use traditional techniques: from modeling with hooks to plates, potter’s wheel, molds or by simple manipulation of soil.
With regards to the technique of decoration we mainly use the raku technique, although lately we are also opening up the traditional ceramics. The raku pottery is a Japanese technique very
specific and particular. The craquelè that was formed during the production proceeding is the decorative feature of this technique and can’t be replicated in an identical manner between one object and another, for this reason the Raku ceramic is extremely unique and very refined.
The process involves that the piece, pulled out from a oven that reach 940 degrees, is
covered by sawdust for a few minutes and immersed in cold water. These steps create the
traditional crepe and darken with smoke the raw parts.
As for the colors, we use colors for pottery, glazes and oxides.

blog features:

http://www.frizzifrizzi.it/2014/04/16/bottega-krua-ceramiche-raku-fatte-a-mano-in-italia/