ABOUT US
WHO WE ARE - WHERE WE COME FROM - WHY WE ARE HERE
Puglia:
Dry Land,
Hard,
Ungrateful.
Dry Land,
Hard,
Ungrateful.
That's what they told us for a long time.
A place to leave behind, to set off from with light suitcases and heavy hopes.
Too much sun. Not enough industry.
Plenty of beauty, not much “opportunity”.
ALL BULLSHIT.
The truth is, Puglia was never poor: it was misunderstood. Like a dry clod of earth hiding, under its cracked crust, sap ready to explode.
THAT'S WHY WE CAME BACK.
Not to “import” foreign models, but to (re)write what was already here, waiting.
// We're part of a new wave.
A CRAFT REVIVAL that has nothing to do with postcard nostalgia.
Nostalgia is a trap.
This is meant to be a futurist gesture.
>> Choosing to stay (or to come back) is the most punk thing you can do today.
>> It's putting down roots in rock.
>> It's listening to the land instead of exploiting it.
We work in an old underground olive mill.
Below ground, but with our heads in the clouds.
We make FUNKY & FIERCE ceramics.
Because we believe tradition isn't a museum to be visited in silence, but a fire to keep burning.
We don't want to be perfect.
We want to be alive.
Francesco
aka “Uzhu”
aka “Uzhu”
(Grottaglie, 1992)
I survived a boring degree and a Master's in Business Management, before spending 12 years bouncing around like a pinball between Milan, Madrid, Barcelona, Brussels, Buenos Aires and Berlin.
I had a “shiny” career in the ugly world of Tech Consulting.
I was a Division Manager. Suit, tie and PowerPoint.
Then I CAME TO MY SENSES.
I came home with a rough idea in my pocket and no business plan.
I stopped planning and let time — and the people I met along the way — carve out what you see today.
