Witches flying around Kivotos!! :)

Flying on their broomsticks, holding colourful baloons, resting on the moon, waiting their prince or offering their heart, the lovable witches universe is throwing a spell on us... We are smiling and fly high... :)

Kaiti Anastasaki

I met Kaiti Anastasaki at her workshop in Athens, surely one of the most impressive workspaces I have visited in Greece. She was sitting at her worktable with a small tool in her hand, adding defining lines to a large clay bowl. Next to her, a coworker sat carving a clay figure of a woman with a small scalpel. Kaiti's first workshop opened in 1980 in Crete. Since then, her production and popularity have multiplied many times. I was impressed to see that despite the demand for her work, all the pieces were still being made by hand and with patient detail.
Kaiti's ceramics are symbolistic, some with a touch of surrealism. Although deep inside her designs are ancient Greek roots, her collection stands out among other bodies of work as being artistically innovative, rich in textures and new concepts. Kaiti works mainly with stoneware clay fired at 1250 ºC and up, but her designs in clay can include anything from glass, iron, wood, or engravings to achieve the desired feel and perspective. The decorative colors are added using basic oxides and her own handmade glazes. The range of her work is almost immeasurable. She uses geometrical designs, like her "Cubists" and "Robots"and impressionistic human forms as in her piece "Boulis". Her collection includes everything from functional furniture, oversized wall art, colorful mosaics, mirrors, and miniatures. Her ceramics are easily distinguishable from others for their illustrative style and premium quality.

Three lines studio.

Konstantina Pardali and Demosthenis Kokkalis, since 1989, create unique hand made pieces of contemporary ceramics.
They use a version of the ancient Greek technique "terra sigilata" for the decoration of these items and a firing technique similar to the Japanese Raku. This technique involves smoke, produced after dipping the red hot objects in shavings. The result is spots and traces on the surface of the clay.
Those amazing pieces of high quality craftsmanship are never out of fashion and they always look elegant and classy!!
You can find all their new work at Kivotos gallery.

Kostas and Klios amazing art work!

Kostas Panaretos & Klio Brenner

This couple met through their love of ceramics, both having extensive education and experience in the field. Together their talents have won them first prize in the "2004 1st European Ceramics Competition" held in Athens, Greece, which included 681 artists and over 2,300 competing works from all over Europe!
Their winning piece now sits for public viewing in the entryway of the city hall building in Maroussi, Athens. Their winning piece was also featured on the front cover of Germany's "New Ceramics" magazine.

Klio Brenner studied in Vern, Switzerland at the "Schule fur Gestaltung" from 1986-1990 and has participated in group and individual exhibitions in both Switzerland and Greece since 1988. In 1996, she and her husband, Kosta Panaretos, won the "First Award of Merit" at the Panhellenic Ceramics Exhibitions in Maroussi, Athens. Kosta studied ceramics at OAED in Athens and also taught his craft to others at the, YWCA, Ceramic School of Municipality of Nikea, and the "Art Studio" in Halkida. Kosta continues to teach at the School of Fine Arts in Athens and is a participating member of the Greek Chamber of Fine Arts.

Together Klio and Kosta have run their own workshop in Glyfada, Athens since 1990. They specialize in an ancient Greek technique called "Terra Sigillata". The pieces are formed using Earthenware clay fired at 1000 ºC and the colors are handmade from the soils of the earth. This difficult, but significant technique is only used today by a small group of ceramists. Their designs are inspired by ancient Greek Cycladic and Minoan sculptures, and are then transformed with the visions and talents of Klio and Kostas into a contemporary version of Greek art.

Raku

Raku is one of the most interesting ceramic art technics.

I deeply believe that an item from the time it is born in an artist s hands has it s own soul.

I think the actual creation proceture is the road that we have to follow to gain the feeling of this soul.

Western raku is typically made from a stoneware clay body and are bisque fired at 900°C (1650°F) and glaze fired (the final firing) between 800-1000°C (1450-1800°F), which falls into the cone 06 firing temperature range.

The process is known for its unpredictability, particularly when reduction is forced, and pieces may crack or even explode due to thermal shock. Pots may be returned to the kiln to re-oxidize if firing results do not meet the potter's expectations, although each successive firing has a high chance of weakening the overall structural integrity of the pot. Pots that are exposed to thermal shock multiple times can break apart in the kiln, as they are removed from the kiln, or when they are in the reduction chamber.

The glaze firing times for raku ware are short: an hour or two as opposed to up to 16 hours for high-temperature cone 10 stoneware firings. This is due to several factors: raku glazes mature at a much lower temperature (under 1800°F, as opposed to almost 2300°F for high-fire stoneware), kiln temperatures can be raised rapidly, and the kiln is loaded and unloaded while hot and can be kept hot between firings.

Because temperature changes are rapid during the raku process, clay bodies used for raku ware must be able to cope with significant thermal stress. The usual way to deal with this is to incorporate a high percentage of quartz, grog, or Kyanite into the body before the pot is formed. Each is used to add strength to the clay body and to reduce thermal expansion. When used at high additions, quartz can increase the risk of dunting or shivering therefore, Kyanite is often the preferred material because it contributes both mechanical strength and, in amounts up to 20%, it significantly reduces thermal expansion. Although any clay body can be used, most porcelains and white stoneware clay bodies are unsuitable for the western raku process unless some material is added to deal with thermal shock.

Aesthetic considerations include clay color and fired surface texture, as well as the clay's chemical interaction with raku glazes.