Socio-economic development for communities with rich craft heritage

A workshop on Black Ceramics was created in two villages with rich histories of traditional production in order to strengthen socio-economic innovation. This was done within the development initiative Oficis Singulars of the Catalan government.

Both Quart and Verdú are expert potter villages where pre-historic traces of black ceramics have been discovered by archaeological excavation, an ancient technique of firing clay that darkens and gives it a special porosity.

With this tradition as a starting point, more than sixty products evolved, and business strategies were developed for new market niches. The design process involved facilitating a large, multi-disciplinary group made up of an ethnographer and a local historian together with eleven potters. The development process was presented as an exhibition about the cultural and commercial future of craft and it’s techniques.