Handmade pieces, how to recognize them?

Today we want to offer a really interesting reading to all our friends, tourists and passionate readers of the world of craftsmanship. For many years the Amalfi coast has been known all over the world as well as for its scenic beauty, its historical monuments and its commendable culinary tradition and also for its fantastic artisan works.

Given their beauty, they have far exceeded our territorial borders and every tourist, once they reach the Divine Coast, does not leave this enchanting corner of paradise if they have not purchased at least a small handmade souvenir from the skilled craftsmen of this breathtaking place.

Even in Italy and abroad there are several ceramic retailers who, aware of the high quality of each individual item and aware of the high degree of appreciation of these masterpieces by a large clientele, wish to give a further shine to what they are their points of sale with Amalfi objects.

Given the beauty of our articles, a minority of "operators in the sector" several times attempted to copy and reproduce (without success) the articles of our beloved coast with poor results.

To avoid any deception, how can you identify an original item made in Amalfi Coast from one that is not handcrafted?

Here there are some small tips to follow to really understand immediately if what you have purchased (or you are going to buy) is a product that is truly and entirely handpainted and handmade.

Today we focus on the first aspect, it does mean we will analyze how an article should be painted.

There are several techniques to understand this aspect and today we show you a very simple and quick one to check if an article is hand-painted or not.

Let's take the example that you are interested in renewing your set of dishes to use every day and let's take the example that you have been fascinated by the classic design of lemons, one of the decorations that best reflects the traditions of the Amalfi Coast.

You are about to buy these items but you want further confirmation that the items you are checking are hand painted, how to do it?

To check the true quality of this items instead of looking at one, we advise you to ask the seller to show you a second of the same decoration you are interested in.

This is because in this way you can make a simple comparison between the two articles and immediately understand their nature and see if the decoration was really hand-painted or if it was a print lying on top of the ceramic.

Two ceramic items, although they may have the same decoration, will always have small differences that make each individual object unique, from the simplest to the most complex.

Look carefully at the dishes that are in the following photo:

The decoration, reproduced by one of our youngest artist, in the two dishes in the photo above is certainly among the simplest that we produce and, at first glance, the dishes may seem practically identical .... but have you noticed that there are at least 4 great differences that make them both unique?

Let's find out together

1) lemons have slightly different dimensions from each other ... this is because the artist does not create the decoration using an already set scheme but each time paints each artwork in the most harmonious way possible ... it is possible reproduce the same decoration on several items but it is impossible to reproduce it without differences ... (note, for example, the third and fourth lemon of the upper row of this group of lemons ... in the left plate there is a very small celestial space that divides them while in the dish on the right the two lemons touch and overlap each other without leaving room for the light blue background).

2) leaves always have different sizes and they are always inclined in a different way because the artist paints them freehand and not following any scheme already preset;

3) the colors inside the lemons always have different shades ... if you compare each single lemon in the two dishes you can see the different brush strokes and the different shades of color that fill each lemon (inside the photo we left the effect of light and flash deliberately to allow you to see how each time the artist has wisely used multiple shades of yellow, brown, orange and red to obtain a perfect chroming of the symbol of the Amalfi coast)

All this is possible because the amount of color that artist put on the brush every time dips it in the color is never the same and that's why every time he paints every single detail of a decoration in 2 different dishes, the pattern can have different shades.

4) Another fundamental aspect is the possibility of seeing the artist's brush stroke on the article. The articles whose decoration and whose color is put with a machine does not allow to see how the artist painted the article and the color seems perfectly placed on the article without any imperfection. When an article is hand-painted, instead, you can easily see how long the artist's brush stroke was and how wide the brush was used. That's why, if you notice the central part of each single lemon, you can see that the white part always has a different size ... in some lemons it is smaller, in others it is larger and in others it even seems not to be there.

As for our business, we have been producing only handmade ceramic items for 39 years, meticulously respecting all the techniques of the local craftsmanship who make every single item, from the smallest to the largest, a real work of art.

Our sets of dishes, our centerpieces and our gift ideas are just some of whole production ready to be shipped to every corner of the world in a very short time that 110% respect all the techniques explained above.

These are just some news that we believe are right to share with you and soon there will be more updates on this topic, thanks for your attention.

Best wishes and see you soon in our beloved coast.

M.C.