Rina Menardi - Italy
"The material found me"
Pictures by Carlo Vidoni
The wind rushes through the trees, a long wooden footbridge leads across a pond to the entrance of the ceramic manufactory of Rina Menardi. Already the arrival invites to go with caution, to decelerate, to arrive. To arrive in a world that goes far beyond craftsmanship. It is a world full of emotions, poetry, stories and thoughts. All those who can be found in every single product.
Since 1980 Rina Menardi has been researching new working techniques, colour schemes and the constant quest for beauty of form and the balance of contrasts in the field of ceramics. Her work is always inspired by nature, with the aim of evoking visual and sensual sensations in us and thus developing deep emotions towards a product.
„Clay allows me to give a three-dimensional shape to the here- and-now ‘me’. It is a way of communicating with myself, and therefore with others. I simply strive to respect the natural surfacing of things that are already within us.“
Sometimes a person is surrounded by an intangible energy and you feel common values that connect without words and only become visible through the products. The jointly developed tableware collection is about respect for nature, which will exist long before and long after us. The result is a new, exclusive colour combination that reflects the green of the forest, the trees and the leaves and thus complements a wooden table.
We value high-quality, hand-made products with a soul. On the other hand, there is a world characterised by mass consumption. Consumption that destroys our nature and does not touch us in any way. Through the tableware collection we bring nature and the positive power of Rina Menardi into our home and thus experience very special, conscious moments.