keramikHistorically, pottery making is one of the most widespread and oldest of the arts. Pottery is simple because it is most elementar and is difficult because it is the most abstract. Fire, the first element of our existence - to pottery also - enclosed to our creative power, today when we are living in an electronic civilization , reprezents a real challenge, not only to the arstistic world but to all of us. But when the art of pottery first begun? Most reference books claim it started between 9000-10000 years ago in the area known as the Middle East. Recent findings claim to date her American Indian pottery, back as far as 25000-30000 years ago, long before history begun. Pottery probably strated around the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age and is among the oldest of artifacts that have been uncovered. Unlike metal, wood or cloth, pottery is resistant to corrosion or desintegration. Fired clay is the only material on earth that does not change with time. Through the ages cultures around the world have used clay for many purposes, some of the earliest pieces found were animal and female figurines probably used for rituals and ceremonies. Pottery was mainly for utilitarian purposes like storing grain or dried materials. But in our times things have changed, the art of pottery is used for decorative purposes, to joy our lives with the forms and colours. However it occured the discovery that fire could make clay objects more permanent was when the art of the ceramic was born. Today the nature and type of pottery is determined by the composition of the clay, the way it is fired at, the type of glaze used and mostly by the composition, her forms, her colours the art herself. Pottery comprises of three distinctive types of ware: Earthenware, Stoneware and POrcelain. Pottery fired at "lower temperatures" is know as Earthenware, it still remains slightly porous and liquids will eventual came through the clay body. The second form is an evolvement in cereamics the discovery that by subjecting the clay piece to an even higher temperature body became non-poorous, clay will vitrify. The third type, POrcelain was made in China around 618-907 A.D. This clay body was made from kaolin (a white China clay) and petuntse (a feldspathic rock) The material we are using in our studio from Bazna is faenza, discovered in Italy a combination of Stoneware and Porcelain. It is burned at 1160 degrees and more resistant than clay. Plasticity in clay allows it to be shaped in many different ways. In the beginning clay objects were formed by hand, than moulding was another method of shaping vessels or objects. In our studio we are making the first forms with the help of mouldings, then we began our true work , our fine art work. We take each object in particular and give it form and life through decoration, incisions and colours. To fire pottery without braking the clay it must be air-dried first properly. Our products go through a firing process in a kiln under very high heat to harden the clay body. Glazed pottery like ours, is fired twice, , sometimes even three times. The first firing process is called a "bisque" when the forms are fixed for shape and resistance, the second one is "firing glaze", when the products receive an aspect of glass. And the last one, rarely used in our production is "the decorative firing" at lower temperature, till 800 degrees when we are using overglaze dyes to make other decorations. The first pieces of pottery in history were fired using a hot wood fire. Later coal, gas and electricity were used to power kilns or ovens. Different effects are achived by the type of kiln used, the type of the fuel used, how yhe kiln is stacked, composition of clay bodies, oxidizing the flames and reducing the oxygen inside the kiln. Contemporary ceramics live in many different places, in craft galleries, fine art galleries, in potters studios or showrooms and we find them in peoples homes: on mantelpieces, in display cases, with flowers in, specially put aside or part of everyday life, outside in the garden. Ceramics cross peoples lives in manyfold ways, looked at, collected and used. We, the ceramists, want to make your lives more beautiful, more coloured with the combination of strange constructed forms and direct painting onto surface. When

Historically, pottery making is one of the most widespread and oldest of the arts. Pottery is simple because it is most elementar and is difficult because it is the most abstract. Fire, the first element of our existence - to pottery also - enclosed to our creative power, today when we are living in an electronic civilization , reprezents a real challenge, not only to the arstistic world but to all of us. But when the art of pottery first begun?

Most reference books claim it started between 9000-10000 years ago in the area known as the Middle East. Recent findings claim to date her American Indian pottery, back as far as 25000-30000 years ago, long before history begun. Pottery probably strated around the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age and is among the oldest of artifacts that have been uncovered. Unlike metal, wood or cloth, pottery is resistant to corrosion or desintegration. Fired clay is the only material on earth that does not change with time. Through the ages cultures around the world have used clay for many purposes, some of the earliest pieces found were animal and female figurines probably used for rituals and ceremonies. Pottery was mainly for utilitarian purposes like storing grain or dried materials. But in our times things have changed, the art of pottery is used for decorative purposes, to joy our lives with the forms and colours.

However it occured the discovery that fire could make clay objects more permanent was when the art of the ceramic was born. Today the nature and type of pottery is determined by the composition of the clay, the way it is fired at, the type of glaze used and mostly by the composition, her forms, her colours the art herself. Pottery comprises of three distinctive types of ware: Earthenware, Stoneware and POrcelain. Pottery fired at "lower temperatures" is know as Earthenware, it still remains slightly porous and liquids will eventual came through the clay body. The second form is an evolvement in cereamics the discovery that by subjecting the clay piece to an even higher temperature body became non-poorous, clay will vitrify. The third type, POrcelain was made in China around 618-907 A.D. This clay body was made from kaolin (a white China clay) and petuntse (a feldspathic rock) The material we are using in our studio from Bazna is faenza, discovered in Italy a combination of Stoneware and Porcelain. It is burned at 1160 degrees and more resistant than clay. Plasticity in clay allows it to be shaped in many different ways. In the beginning clay objects were formed by hand, than moulding was another method of shaping vessels or objects. In our studio we are making the first forms with the help of mouldings, then we began our true work , our fine art work. We take each object in particular and give it form and life through decoration, incisions and colours.

To fire pottery without braking the clay it must be air-dried first properly. Our products go through a firing process in a kiln under very high heat to harden the clay body. Glazed pottery like ours, is fired twice, , sometimes even three times. The first firing process is called a "bisque" when the forms are fixed for shape and resistance, the second one is "firing glaze", when the products receive an aspect of glass. And the last one, rarely used in our production is "the decorative firing" at lower temperature, till 800 degrees when we are using overglaze dyes to make other decorations. The first pieces of pottery in history were fired using a hot wood fire. Later coal, gas and electricity were used to power kilns or ovens. Different effects are achived by the type of kiln used, the type of the fuel used, how yhe kiln is stacked, composition of clay bodies, oxidizing the flames and reducing the oxygen inside the kiln.

Contemporary ceramics live in many different places, in craft galleries, fine art galleries, in potters studios or showrooms and we find them in peoples homes: on mantelpieces, in display cases, with flowers in, specially put aside or part of everyday life, outside in the garden. Ceramics cross peoples lives in manyfold ways, looked at, collected and used.

We, the ceramists, want to make your lives more beautiful, more coloured with the combination of strange constructed forms and direct painting onto surface. When we started working together in the studio at Bazna we thought "Lets make life beautiful !", "Lets make something creative and new in this world !"

Hands and clay working together: it remains the basic grounding, our image of the potter at work. The resonances are manifold: Adam was created from the clay, clay artifacts are amongst the earliest known works to be made by humans. Fired clay, malleable earth, made hard through its interactions with fire is all around us: geologically, historically, architectually, part of our culture, part of our metaphorical language, one of the ways we define ourselves. These are our thoughts, in order we believe that you will come to see us in the studio of Bazna, in Romania, search for our products on the market and share some of our believes.

The execise that our fine arts is purposing is nothing but the pleasure of abandoning ourselves in sensations because, as we hear, fine arts are giving humanity sense and at the same time the seal of individual perfection.

Only trough art, mankind conciliate with himself and with the others. Placed in the earth of Transilvania nearly Sibiu, a zone filled with mystery and tradition, our studio KERAMIK ART hands-made fine art pottery productsof high quality. Our products are hand-painted with a special technique in order to obtain the finest art products. When contemplating the finished product, one is amazed by the precision it was worked with, the signature of our studio representing the clear proof of the products uniqueness.