Monday and Tuesday — throwing
Both wheels run from seven. Forty kilos of body wedged, weighed into balls and thrown to the same five profiles. Anything that wobbles goes straight back in the bin.
Via del Fosso 22 · Lucca · two wheels, one kiln
Thrown to order, mostly
Nerva Ceramica is Elena Nervi and Tomas Brandt, who met glazing somebody else's mugs in 2007 and opened this room two years later. Nothing is subcontracted. If a piece is on the shelf, one of the two of us made it and the other packed it.
02
Seventeen years in one room
A small shelf is a decision, not a shortage
We could make four times as much by casting from moulds, and for one winter in 2013 we tried. The pieces were faultless and nobody could tell them apart, which turned out to be the problem.
So the range stayed at twelve. Each one is thrown, trimmed, bisqued, glazed and packed in this room, and the kiln is filled eleven times a year — once when the clay is dry enough and the two of us are both here, never because a page said something was in stock.
That is also why a sold-out piece keeps its price and a date. There is no warehouse behind this website. There is a shelf, and when it is empty we tell you when the next firing opens.
03
The same six days, every firing
How a week in the room runs
Clay sets its own timetable and will not be argued with. This is the rhythm the kiln imposes, written out so you can see where your order sits in it.
Wednesday — trimming
The foot ring is cut when the clay is leather hard, which is a window of about four hours. Each piece is weighed and the number written on the base before it goes to the shelves.
Thursday and Friday — glazing
Ash is sieved, glazes are mixed fresh and tested on a tile from the same batch. Dipping takes a second; the deciding takes most of the morning.
Saturday — loading, then waiting
The kiln is packed, lit and left. Thirty-one hours up, two days down. Nobody opens it early; we have learned that lesson with a full shelf of cracked feet.
The kiln decides what we sell. Our only job is to be ready when it opens, and to be honest about the eleven weeks in between.
Elena Nervi — thrower, and the one who lights it
05
Made this month
Three that came out whole
Serra bowl
€68Nine fired
Open the entry
Filo stem vase
€78Six fired
Open the entry
Grana espresso cups
€84Five sets
Open the entry
Thursday to Saturday, 10.00—18.00
Stand in the room while the wheel is running
No appointment, no tour, no charge. Push the green door, come up the stairs and say hello. The seconds bench is by the window and nothing on it reaches this website.