A tribute to Enzo Ferrari at the Fiorano Ceramics Museum
In 1998 the Fiorano Ceramics Museum launched an artistic event dedicated to Enzo Ferrari: the result was a series of handicrafts signed by ceramic artisans and designers, now exhibited at the Museum.
Fiorano is first and foremost known for its ceramics production. The Ceramics Museum near the Spezzano Castle shows that it the production is not limited to tiles. The contemporary collection is a joint series of works and artefacts of high quality, which point to the latest and most significant trends in pottery design and architectural ceramics. Now, what do engines have to do with any of this? Actually, they have a lot to do with it.
In 1998, to commemorate the centenary of Enzo Ferrari’s birth, the Ceramics Museum organised an artistic event in tribute to the Drake. The purpose being to celebrate the illustrious car builder by creating ceramics that are aesthetic and iconographic in value as well as useful and functional generally.
Designers, potters and decorators from Italy and beyond took part in this initiative. Fourteen painters were called on to paint “live” onto ceramic panels set up inside the Castle. Finally, a few students from nearby art institutes managed to take part by exhibiting their own works in a themed competition, bringing them up close to the myth of Enzo Ferrari, Fiorano’s honorary citizenship: a symbol of ingeniousness, passion and love for one’s work.
The outcome of this particular event - a bit “happening”, a bit “art challenge”, a bit “casual free gift” - is a nucleus of ceramic works exhibited in the contemporary collection of the Ceramics Museum.