Very Rare Handmade in Rhodes Greece Plate by ICAROS Pottery

Copied from website Ceramopolis.com

The story of ICARO Rodi begins with two young Italian friends and co-students in the ceramics school, Luigi de Lerma and Dario Poppi. Both Luigi and Dario worked in Vietri between 1927-1929, acquiring the needed expertise for the next step, ICARO in Rhodes.
Luigi de Lerma was the technical director of “Fontana Limite”, a factory in Vietri Italy that was found in 1924 (active till 1928) by the German ceramist G. Studemann, for the production of artistic majolica.
Darrio Poppi, was working at the art section of the “Avallone”, a factory for the production of ceramics and pottery art, founded in 19th c in Vietri by Andrea Avallone. In the 20th c the factory failed to revive its manufacturing and in the late 20s production was suspended.

In 1928 (till the beginning of 1929) several young Italian ceramists were invited to Rhodes to bring the knowhow of pottery quality production (materials & techniques had been examined from 1927 at the Regia Scuola di Ceramica in Faenza- today the National Institute of Ceramics) and set up I.C.A.R.O. with the assistance of the government. Official initiation of activities and the opening of the workshop happened in July 24th, 1929 with Luigi De Lerma to be the first technical director of ICARO Rodi. His experience from ‘Fontana Limite” made the ICARO production to be similar to Faenza’s. In the same year he invites Darrio Poppi to be part of the team.
In 1931 ICARO Rodi moves to a new building in the old city of Rhodes (near the spectacular road of the Knights- Via dei Cavalieri) where a Madonna tile and a decorative tiles panel can be seen till today.

Apart from Luigi de Lerma and Dario Poppi a third person whose passion and artistic originality was catalytic for ICARO success, should be mentioned. Austrian potter Egon Huber arrived in Rhodes in 1931, fall in love with the island and decided to stay. He worked at ICARO for many years and probably was still the technical director of the factory after 1950, where the factory continued its production under new ownership. The image of the Madonna of Filerimos (near Ialyssos) is believed to be his creation. Variations of her image in tiles can be found till today in churches and other buildings.

ICARO’s repertoire includes tiles and decorative panels, plates, vases, jugs, figures with the Dodecanese islands traditional costumes, animal miniatures among others.
Decoration includes floral motives (tulips, carnations, roses), animals in movements (lions, dogs, birds and the deer the symbol of the island), the “Saz” leaf that we meet in Iznik plates, and other motifs that include human figures and ships inspired again from Iznik ceramics.

IKAROS (????? ?????) – 1950/84
In 1947 Rhodes was annexed to Greece and after three years (1950) the manufactory was sold to a local businessman named Kostas Hadjikostantis at a public auction. Although the name was changed to IKAROS, the new owner kept the designs and shapes of the previous manufactory. As was previously mentioned, Egon Huber probably remained as the technical director and Spyros Oikonomidis became the artistic director of the factory.

During the 1st Greek period (1947-1948 and the beginning of 1949) the signature at the back of the ceramics was IKAPO ????? (????? was written with the Greek letter P that is the English R & ????? is Greek for Rhodes).
After 1950 (2nd Greek Period) we found signs as IKAPO? ????? ?201 (The name IKAP?? includes the letter ? in Greek that is the final S in English and also a letter & a number to categorize the item). After 1955/1960 we found signs as “Hand Painted in Rhodes by IKAROS Pottery A 209” using the English R in the word IKAROS.
IKAROS production was very active for the first years. But the period followed was not easy and the factory came to an almost collapse in 1984. Local businessmen attempted to save the company which finally closed after the tragic death of K. Hadjikostantis and his wife in a car accident.

Today, the I.C.A.R.O. (ICARO Rodi) ceramics with their unique beauty are very collectible and can be found in private collections, mainly of Greek or Italian collectors.