Art & Design Potter’s
Art & Design Potter’s Wheel I am a ceramicist,” affirms Xavier Mañosa. It seems an obvious point to make for the man who runs a ceramic studio, but such is the way his family firm, Apparatu, blurs the lines between art, crafts, industry and design, the affirmation seems necessary. Apparatu pieces – vases, vessels, lampshades and more, created with an emphasis on irregular shapes and textures, and often with materials not usually associated with ceramics – are as at home in galleries and design fairs as they are, well, in homes. Which makes sense because this ceramics studio, based in Rubí, a small town near Barcelona, has a very different take on its traditional craft. Mañosa’s circuitous route to joining the family business came via a degree in industrial design and a stint living in Berlin that has undoubtedly affected his work with such a diverse sensibility. Even the name Apparatu is a (deliberate) mixture of “poorly written Catalan and poorly spoken German”. Mañosa was enjoying himself in the German capital but was eventually persuaded to return home, where his parents had run their pottery business for almost half a century. It was a gradual homecoming – he had been heading back to Spain to help them make some pieces while also producing small works in a “primitive” studio in Berlin to sell at a flea market. In the end, it was a combination of family and heritage that inspired the final move home. “In Berlin, I was procrastinating, not doing much. My mother said they were planning to close the workshop. From there, I decided to move to Barcelona.” Yet, he didn’t return simply with the idea of continuing the traditional business: he was determined to work to his own rules. What those rules actually are remains a bit mysterious. Talking to Mañosa, who leaps between subjects with great enthusiasm, it is very easy to understand the sort of creative energy that goes into his work – as well as the strong sense of family and tradition that both clashes with and complements his ceramics. Part of the dynamism comes from the fact that his parents still work in the studio. “We have arguments – more with my mother, as we have a more similar character. I’m happy to have an argument, she’s always very, very happy to get into an argument. Creative arguments,” Mañosa says. “Yet after a moment, the problem is gone.” He is used to winning these battles, including from a logistical point of view. His parents’ preferred marketing tool was the catalogue for many years. “They had the idea that you design something, you create a piece and reproduce it. I was never comfortable with that idea. For me, it’s not just looking at these objects – it’s focusing on the material and the process.” He embraces technology in these processes, but he is not necessarily beholden to it. For him, technology is Throughout his work, Mañosa experiments with different shapes, materials and glazes PHOTOS JARA VARELA 40 CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM
Mañosa at work in his studio, just outside Barcelona, where he creates both works of art and more orthodox production designs RESPECTED BY GAGGENAU A mark of both devotion to craft and groundbreaking innovation, Respected by Gaggenau is one of the culinary world’s most prestigious prizes, chosen by 27 experienced curators from eight countries. Joining design winner Apparatu as 2021 recipients are Salumi Bettella (culinary), the Italian farmer of “The Quiet Pig”, and Elías López Montero (viticulture), the visionary behind Verum winemakers in La Mancha. gaggenau.com PHOTOS CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: © APPARATU (2), SALVA LOPEZ simply a tool with which he can achieve his goals. But what are those goals? Is he artist or artisan? “What is art, what is design?” he answers, reverting to a common theme: between the lines. “What is what? These are the questions that you have. We have clients who want us to think in terms of design. That is our relationship, but we also produce materials. This is not very common, in my experience. They are having a conversation with the designer but also with the supplier. For me, it makes sense. As a designer, you will always go for what you want but that maybe is not what is best in terms of production. And you have to understand the production to make sense of every aspect.” Collaboration is also a clear theme of Mañosa’s work. He is currently coming to the end of a five-year project with Artek, the Finnish brand created by legendary design Alvar Aalto, that has been “extremely technical and a personal challenge”, although he is reluctant to divulge more. Other collaborators have included Marset, the Spanish lighting brand, and the Parisbased fashion designer Isabel Marant. And now he is working with the German high-end home appliance manufacturer Gaggenau, a meeting of minds that has led to small exhibitions of Apparatu’s work featuring in the company’s showrooms. “I love that, by doing this, it produces something physical,” says Mañosa. The innovative nature of Mañosa’s work was brought to Gaggenau’s attention by another collaborator, Isabel Martínez- Cosentino, the owner of art showroom Cosentino City Barcelona and a curator for Respected by Gaggenau, the German firm’s initiative that seeks out elaborate artisans, producers and makers around the globe who are quietly striving to create excellence in their field (see above). She recognised the originality of his work, and it’s precisely this quality that Sven Baacke, head of design for the brand, also sees in Apparatu, the Respected by Gaggenau design recipient for 2021. “What is impressive about Apparatu is while they push the possibilities of using clay for design purposes, they also respect traditions and history, leading to ceramics with authenticity,” he says. “I think Apparatu is about disconnection and the thin line between sometimes not knowing what they are doing, and occasionally some unusual things coming from the studio,” Baacke adds. However unusual, there’s no doubt that whatever direction Mañosa heads in next, his individual stamp will be writ large all over it. apparatu.com ¬ CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM 41
