BITOSSI PLANTER - RETE/NET DECOR - ALDO LONDI '54 -'56.

Sometimes a thing will just grab the eye and it makes its way home with you where you can research its origins on the net and learn a little more about it and those who produced it.

The pattern on this planter caught my eye and the chunky feel of its form and the smoothness of the thick glaze intrigued me. The mark on the bottom was the dead give away to its origins in Italy - specifically the area we know as Montelupo Fiorentino, just a few kilometres from Firenze at a factory founded there in 1921 by Guido Bitossi. In 1946 Aldo Londi (1911- 2003) entered the company and became their design director in the early 1950’s.

This little cache-pot has an example of the Aldo Londi’s signature ‘Ztaly’ mark with a letter and some numbers. The letter refers to the client, the 1st number is the design number and the second number is the height (or width) of the object in centimetres.

In this case the marks are within a black circle :
N 7 / 15
Ztaly

It is now known that these marks indicate that it was Aldo Londi who designed the vase and also signed it according to members of both the Bitossi and the Londi families.

The vase seems to have been given a black glaze underneath and then some circular stickers were added around the pot. It was then encased in a salami net and the a white spray glaze was added. After the netting and the circular stickers were removed the coloured dots of red yellow and green were place inside the black circles and the signature marks in another one on its base.

There are other examples of this net decor that do not have the circular coloured dots - and they are known by collectors as ‘Rete/Net’, sometimes ‘Rhomboid Net’ and ‘Rhombus Net’.

The dates suggested for these Rete/Net decor pieces are from 1954-1956.

H : 9 cm.
W : 15 cm.