Fondazione Officine Saffi is pleased to announce the results reported at the close of submissions for the Officine Saffi Award, the fifth edition of the international competition dedicated to contemporary ceramic research and practice

With over 900 applications received from 62 countries across 5 continents, there has been a 50%+ increase in participation when compared to the previous edition. This confirms the widespread recognition of the Officine Saffi Award as a key international platform for promoting new research in ceramics within the fields of contemporary artistic practices, design, and crafts. The competition continues to affirm its identity as a point of reference and a catalyst for ceramics amongst Italian artists (245 applications received), and it is also attracting a growing participation from South America, Asia, Africa, India, and Oceania.

 The success of the open call “(un)Known Territories” highlights the extraordinary vitality of the ceramic medium as a means of interpreting the present and stimulating an intercultural conversation, especially amongst the younger generations. This can be seen from the profile of the applications received. In fact, candidates under 35 accounted for as many as 540 entries.

Once the Panel members have completed the selection process, the names of the 25 short-listed artists will be announced by February 9^th, 2024. Their works will be presented to the public in a major exhibition that will inaugurate the new Fondazione Officine Saffi venue in Spring 2024. The 25 short listed artists will compete for the many prizes awarded by the Jury, including the First Prize of €10,000, the Young Artists Prize of €5,000, the Officine Saffi Special Prize, and the 6 residency prizes at Fundación Casa Wabi, Mexico; Bruckner Foundation, Switzerland; Museo della Ceramica di Savona, Italy; Guldagergaard, Denmark; International Ceramic Art Festival in Sasama, Japan; and Gaya Ceramic Arts Center, Indonesia.

Together with the disclosure of the short-listed, the five participants invited to take part in the competition’s special section “Focus: the Netherlands” will also be announced. The project, designed to explore the world of contemporary ceramic creativity in the Netherlands, is curated by Geertje Jacobs and with support from the Embassy and Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

 The members of the Jury for the Officine Saffi Award “(un)Known Territories” are: Alberto Ríos De La Rosa, Alison Britton, Cristiano De Lorenzo, Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Emanuele Farneti, Alberto Cavalli, Valentina Ciuffi, Salvatore Arancio, Krzysztof Lukasik, Laura Borghi, and François Mellé. The Panel members include: Debika Ray, Valerio Capo & Sam Pratt, Garth Johnson, Meaghan Roddy, Ludwig Reinhold, Irene Biolchini, and Laura Borghi. 

Fondazione Officine Saffi, a private non-profit organisation, was founded by Laura Borghi in 2011 to promote contemporary ceramic creativity at an international level. Maintaining strong links with history, the Foundation promotes new research and experimentation in the field of ceramics, fostering the interaction of art, craftsmanship and design. By means of a dynamic, interdisciplinary programme of exhibitions, educational activities and publications, it plays an active part in the conversation on ceramics with the aim of involving a heterogeneous and diversified public. The Foundation’s programme of activities is guided by the conviction that ceramics can activate processes of artistic, cultural and social transformation. With an open attitude that fosters a climate of participation, the Foundation encourages artists and the public to question what it means to live in today’s world by relating to the Other and to material life: the variety of interpretations that concern both the questions and the answers to these issues is the starting-point for identifying the medium of ceramics as the focus of a multidisciplinary programme that is part of a broader approach to contemporaneity. Fondazione Officine Saffi supports artists, designers and artisans in the various stages of production, right through to the promotion and recognition of their work, providing a platform for emerging creators as well as for projects and narratives that flourish outside consolidated market systems. The Foundation’s commitment to exploring Italian culture goes hand in hand with its intercultural identity and its desire to stimulate a dialogue that resonates on a global scale, supported by the continuous construction of new networks between individuals, communities, institutions and organisations.