About

“...for five six thousand years for a huge amount of years ceramics has been there-sweet as bread and they are even older than bread. They are older than all the poems that have been written, older than goats and cats, older than all houses, older than all metals. Pottery is as old as mammoth teeth, as bear ribs, as reindeer antlers. It is the paper to which the idea of darkness was first consigned, making entirely invented forms with the hands…”
- Ettore Sottsass

Founded in 2011 by Laura Borghi, Fondazione Officine Saffi, a leading nonprofit foundation investigating contemporary international ceramics takes an unparalleled, 360 degree-approach to ceramics. Promoting new research and experimentation in ceramics, while exploring the past, the foundation widens and expands the dialogue between art, craft, and design. Through a dynamic, cross-disciplinary program of exhibitions, educational activities, and publications, it actively promotes a lively conversation about ceramics that encapsulates a diverse audience. All activity at the foundation is driven by the belief that ceramics is a carrier of artistic, cultural, and social transformation.

Fostering a open and participatory setting, Fondazione Officine Saffi encourages both artists and audiences to interrogate what it means to live in our world today, to relate to the Other and nonhuman life, and create social and cultural value through involvement in a multidisciplinary program that underscores a unique consortium of interpretations and builds momentum around ceramics in the twenty-first century. The foundation supports artists, designers, and makers through the different stages of production, promotion, and recognition of their work while being a platform for emerging creatives, as well as projects and narratives flourishing outside the established market systems.

The foundation’s commitment to exploring Italian culture accompanies its intercultural identity and desire to create a broader dialogue that resonates on a global scale together with a hybrid network of international talents, institutions, and organizations.