Lustreware is a kind of pottery decorated with an antique technique that is still performed entirely by hand. It arrived in Italy around the middle of the fifteenth century, but lustreware is a much older practice that probably originated in the Middle East, where the first decorations were made on glass items. Today, as back then, master potters use this technique not only to embellish high-quality objects and utensils, but to transform them into unique collectibles or artistic icons.

 

The decorative lustre glaze technique is a purely craft process that is never industrial. 

The glaze is applied only after the item has been fired a second time, so when the item is already finished, glazed and fired. It is therefore an extra decoration that can either cover or complete the first, through the application of a resin and metal salt-based compound. When the colour for the lustre glaze has been carefully applied by brush according to the craft tradition, the item is fired a third and last time at a low temperature that must not exceed 700 °C. This process, also known as the “third firing”, must take place in a reducing atmosphere which involves inserting smoke-producing substances in the kiln, such as resin, sugar, wood and alcohol. This stops the metals oxidizing and creates the magical iridescent effects of colour and refraction that make gilded lustreware so bewitching.  

 

Like a watercolour canvas, the colours used for lustreware can be diluted to produce spectacularly luminous and alluring results as well as creating iridescent colour effects that are typically gold, silver and red. Finally, the use of pure colours and the chromatic transformations obtained during the fuming phase give each item of gilded lustreware a profoundly unique character. The result is an elegant and unrepeatable object, enhanced by the metallic lustre effects that are like the sparkle of a precious jewel.