Giovanna De Avila
When you sit down at a table set with an array of wine glasses, champagne glasses, plates, cups, oil dressing sets, teapots designed by Giovanna de Ávila, you are in the proximity of a transcendent utilitarianism. Seeing her objects next to one another, you can notice that they keep stories to unfold. Giovanna is a philosopher of the table top; she creates a mental image of all the relationships that can develop in a harmony of forms. She creates relationships that feel organic, with an elegant simplicity.
She turns table settings into magical experiences. And as if that weren’t enough, she produces her own designs joining forces with craftsmen in the process.
In the world in we are living, invaded with objects without sense, badly designed and in unwanted matters, there is a lack of respect for artisan know how and noble materials. Part of what it seems so appealing about Giovanna’s work is her iconoclastic view in craftsmanship. She believes every object can collect emotions, memories passed through hands in form. She believes “hand made” should not become a synonym for obsolete nor vulgar, it is important to know how things are done, it is equally important to make them, ask ourselves where they came from, and allow others to know why they are designed.
Majorca: an oil dressing set, is a homage to a traditional design in Mallorca. The anti-spill-drop top is the reminiscence of the traditional Balearic design from the XVIII century. She designed the bottle which is mouth blown by a glass craftsman and the bottle’s support is hand made in ceramic.
K-1 was conceived together with Industrial Designer Joan Sunyol and produced in a limited edition. K-1 is a teapot mouth blown in glass and the support is done in silver. This is one of her favourite designs because of it’s rounded organic curves. Is the recognition that simple lines can make a mundane object extraordinary. At the moment, they’re studying the possibility of producing the teapot with a ceramic support.
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