{"id":3146,"date":"2025-06-24T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/humusdev.irisceramicagroup.com\/?p=3146"},"modified":"2025-05-08T10:43:40","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T10:43:40","slug":"classic-cantirs-sixteen-designers-interpret-the-ancient-catalan-jug","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/humusdev.irisceramicagroup.com\/en\/classic-cantirs-sixteen-designers-interpret-the-ancient-catalan-jug\/","title":{"rendered":"Classic c\u00e0ntirs: sixteen designers interpret the ancient Catalan jug"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In Catalonia, the c\u00e0ntir<\/em> is so popular that it has its own museum: the Museu del C\u00e0ntir in Argentona, with a collection of over 4500 pieces, the richest of which were decorated by Pablo Picasso. This terracotta container, with a handle and two mouths \u2013 a larger one for filling and another, narrower, used to pour out the liquid, usually wine or water \u2013 is an anonymous designer object dating back to ancient times, the shape of which has remained unchanged over the millennia. In addition to wonderfully performing the task for which it was created \u2013 cooling drinks by exploiting the porosity of the clay (there is even a mathematical formula that explains this mechanism, which is only apparently simple), it embodies the spirit of Barcelona, particularly that convivial disposition that we also find in its literary detectives, from Petra Delicado to her deputy Ferm\u00edn Garz\u00f3n, always willing to sit down to a meal even in the midst of an investigation, to the investigator-gourmet Pepe Carvalho.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The exhibition ‘Inspired in Barcelona: Terra Rossa’, a snapshot of the making of. Photo credit Nacho Alegre<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The star of this Catalan material culture is the raw material used by sixteen resident artists in and around the city, called on by the Barcelona Centre de Disseny and a series of local institutions, curated by designer J\u00falia Esqu\u00e9. The project, called Inspired in Barcelona: Terra Rossa<\/em>, appeared for the first time at the Milan design week in 2024, and was displayed throughout the autumn and winter at the Disseny Hub, the design and decorative arts museum in Barcelona, before continuing its journey. The sixteen artists and designers involved intervened in the archetypal form of the c\u00e0ntir <\/em>in different ways, before and after firing, turning the traditional jug into a contemporary piece through design, the application of glazes and paints, or adding ropes, ribbons and different fabrics that conjure up the features of the Catalan culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The exhibition ‘Inspired in Barcelona: Terra Rossa’, a snapshot of the making of. Photo credit Nacho Alegre<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe set up a varied group of people working in product design, illustration, jewellery, art and gastronomy,<\/em>\u201d the curator explains. \u201cWe were interested in understanding how the different backgrounds and professions of each one could influence the work done on this object.<\/em>\u201d All the participants received the same request: \u201cEach participant had five c\u00e0ntirs or botijos (as they are called in Castilian) at their disposal; they were not required to redesign them but to work on them without altering their function or original size by more than 20%, while the red terracotta colour had to remain mostly unaltered. The c\u00e0ntir also reflects the Catalan identity through its symbolic meaning, and the artists, along with the master potter Eloi Bonadona and Carles Llarch, who created the 300-litre wine jar that is part of the installation, helped to narrate the cultural and traditional elements through their works.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n