Claude Aïello et les designers

Born in 1951, Claude Aïello comes from a family of ceramicists of Italian origin. He moved to Vallauris with his father in 1964, and began his apprenticeship the following year at Saltamacchia, a traditional earthenware factory. He worked under various master potters of Vallauris over the years, perfecting his technique. In 1974, Claude Aïello became his own master, and since the 1980s, has specialized in the production of unique pieces or limited series, notably in collaboration with Jacques-Fernand Orsini (Best Craftsman of France).

In 1998, the Minister of Culture and Communication, in combination with the city of Vallauris, launched the operation “Two Designers at Vallauris,” in order to showcase the know-how of local artisans. After visiting studios, designers (Roger Tallon, Martin Szekely, Olivier Gagnère...) accustomed to collaborating within the industry, chose artisans or craftsmen with whom to form true alliances and help renew the production of functional local earthenware. Thus, Ronan Bouroullec (Torique Collection, 1999) and Frédéric Ruyant (7 objets de table, 2002) came into contact with Claude Aïello.
The success of this collaboration led to many other alliances: Nicolas Bovesse, Christian Ghion, Fernando et Humberto Campana (via la galerie Kreo), Adrien De Melo, David Dubois, Florence Doléac, Duende Studio, Jean-Baptiste Fastrez, Mathieu Lehanneur, Laurent Nicolas...

In 2008, with Mathieu Lehanneur, Claude Aïello took on The Age of the World, a series of pieces modelling in 3D the population pyramids of different countries. For this collaboration, in 2010, they received the Liliane Bettencourt Prize for “l’Intelligence de la Main,” (hand skills) in the “Dialogues” category.

French texts by: Dominique Forest, Brigitte Fitoussi, Lamya Ben Djaffar, Ludovic Recchia, Ronan Bouroullec, Florence Doléac, Christian Ghion, Mathieu Lehanneur.