The skilled hand that wisely moulds and the faithful brush that imitates the nature with its divine and frightful nature that destroys and creates. Here, where Franceso Biagioli lit his furnaces, the art of Master Giorgio is renewed, who from the simple clay, and finding gems in it, stopped the rays reaching captivatedly the sun.
The Company "La Mastro Giorgio" is to be considered among the most ancient and prestigious majolica companies in Umbria, even though its ownership and trademark have had various interruptions and changes during the three hundred years of activity.
The most recent history of the company started in the early years of 1900 with the trademark CAM (Artistic Pottery by Mastro Giorgio). Marsilio Biagioli (1912-1980) and Giovanni Notari together have become the protagonists of the whole production for more than twenty years of the whole production.
In this period the shapes of objects worked on a lathe and the baking techniques, also lustre technique, were renewed for the application of new decorations. This kind of production was significant up to the ‘40s, together with the cold glazed "fiorato Gubbio", a decoration composed of leaves and flowers on shoots and arabesques of eastern origin.
In the ‘50s after the war events the new factory was founded under the name of "La Mastro Giorgio" and exclusively owned by Biagioli. The production took on Renaissance and Baroque decorations by introducing blue, copper-flake green and black backgrounds. The commercial network began to spread both over the domestic market and timidly over the foreign market.
In the ‘60s and ’70s shaped models were introduced by developing the casting technique. The decorations were further enriched with historical and mythological subjects such as dragons, griffins, garlands and baskets. It was the time when the Gubbio pottery from the XVIth cent. to the Neoclassical period was reappraised. Considerably important was the success achieved through the introduction of decorations with red or blue roses and a blue volute frame.
In 1980 ownership passed to the son Professor Valentino Biagioli that started to realize the shapes and decorations belonging to the historical tradition with much more aesthetical precision.
Moreover, he enriched the production with new style lines.
The "bottega" started to produce panels, vases, amphoras and plates of Naif and Liberty style with mythological subjects such as the hunting Diana and the Peacock. A modern production line was also developed in collaboration with some important contemporary artists such as: Trebbiani, Nespolo, Brindisi, Schifano, Minguzzi, Monachesi, and others. In this period the colouring of frames was changed and the cold glazing, a specific characteristic, was fixed through a third baking process, thus making it irreversible. It has been possible to develop adequate production lines producing objects of domestic use and for outdoor furniture.
Today the pottery by La Mastro Giorgio is known and appreciated in the world for its quality and precious aesthetical aspect. The factory has always been considered as a reference for the traditional production of Umbrian ceramics. In the ‘90s the collaboration with the children Sabrina,
Andrea and Paolo started, in order to assure the continuity of a tradition that has contributed to make the name of Gubbio’s ceramics known in the world.