"Are these real leaves?"

It is one of the questions we are asked most often when someone discovers the Terre e Foglie di Maremma collection.

The answer is no.

And yet, looking at these pieces, it is easy to understand why the question naturally comes to mind.

The leaves you see on the surface of the ceramics are not real leaves, they are not applied to the surface, and they are not simply painted.

The decoration is created using different types of clay, and therefore different colours, worked together to create both the surface of the object and the colours of the leaves.

To understand where this technique comes from, however, we need to go back to the late 1970s.

Everything began with a few oak leaves

In the late 1970s, Roberto Polidori used to leave the pieces he had just thrown to dry outdoors.

It was simply part of the way the work was done at the time: the pieces were placed outside the workshop, beneath the trees. And as the oak leaves fell, they inevitably landed on the still-fresh clay.

That everyday situation gave rise to an idea.

Looking at those leaves resting on the pieces, Roberto asked himself:

“How can I make an object that looks as much as possible like what I see here?”

It was not simply a matter of decorating ceramics with a motif taken from nature. The idea was to bring onto the ceramic something of what he saw before him: the shape of the leaf, its veins, its character.

From this research came, in the late 1970s, what would eventually become the Terre e Foglie collection.

The Colours of the Land of Maremma

The name of the collection does not refer only to the presence of leaves. It also tells the story of the material from which it was born.

The colours that characterise Terre e Foglie are white, brick red, pink, grey and ochre. These are tones that recall the materials of our land and come from research into the materials used in ceramic making.

Natural clays, fine high-quality sands and metal oxides found in the soils of Maremma, Mount Amiata and the Fiora Valley form the basis of this palette, rooted in a territory with an ancient tradition of ceramic craftsmanship.

Here, earth is not simply the material from which an object is made. It also helps determine its character and colours.

But how are the leaves made?

This is the second question we are asked most often.

We can tell you about the principle behind the technique, even though the complete process belongs to the knowledge and know-how of our workshop and is not something we explain in detail.

The essential point is this: the colours you see are not simply colours applied to the surface. They are different types of clay.

This applies both to the background colours and to those that make up the leaf.

The decoration is created through a process that can be described as a kind of clay inlay. We work around a real leaf, using it as a reference to preserve its shape and veins. But no part of the natural leaf remains in the finished object.

It is not an imprint

There is another detail that you often notice only when you actually hold one of the pieces.

The leaf is not impressed into the ceramic.

If you run your fingers over the surface, you can feel that the motif is slightly raised.

This is a detail that can be appreciated especially by touch, and it helps to show that this is not simply an image transferred onto the surface: the decoration is part of the object itself.

It is also one of the aspects that make Terre e Foglie a collection to look at, but above all, to touch.

And no, it is not decoupage

The question is understandable, especially when you look closely at the leaves and their definition.

But this is not decoupage.

A real leaf could be applied to the surface of an object using a decorative technique, but that would be a completely different process and is not what we do.

In our case, the leaf motif is created directly using ceramic clays and becomes an integral part of the piece.

This is why the objects in the collection are designed to be used in everyday life: there is no leaf placed on top of the surface, but a decoration created directly within the object.

A tradition born in the 1970s

Terre e Foglie was born in the late 1970s from the desire to create artistic objects for the table, made by hand using materials available in the surrounding area.

It is an idea that still defines the collection today: objects that do not have to choose between everyday functionality and artistic value.

Every piece is designed to be used and lived with, bringing craftsmanship and a decorative language born from the observation of nature into everyday life.

Terre e Foglie today

Decades later, that research is still part of the work of Ceramiche Polidori.

The objects in the Terre e Foglie di Maremma collection are still made by hand in our workshop, carrying with them something of the story from which they originated: the relationship between ceramics, the land and the observation of nature.

So, when someone walks into our shop, picks up a piece and asks:

“Are these real leaves?!”

the simplest answer is still the same:

No. But it all began with a real leaf.

Discover the Terre e Foglie di Maremma collection ⭢