“Touch has a memory,” wrote John Keats — a line that quietly accompanied Lucia Zamberletti as she created this capsule collection of seven ceramic sculptures for Avant Craft. In the studio, the phrase evolved into a more intimate reflection: the memory of touch.

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The Concept 

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For Lucia Zamberletti, touch is not simply a method but the origin of form itself. Each sculpture is shaped through a sequence of gestures that leave their trace in clay: the smoothing that produces a perfectly polished surface in Bloomen #6; the pressure of fingertips imprinting movement into the stem of Funghi #4; the tapping and layering of slip that creates the textured skin of Bloomen #8; and the cupped hands that guide thin sheets of clay into the light, fluid volants seen in Funghi #5 and Bloomen #7. Every gesture carries its own memory — an imprint the material does not forget.

 

The Collection

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Within this collection, the dialogue between touch and form unfolds across two sculptural families:

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Bloomen: a series of vertical constructions where blooms, seeds, and architectural elements meet in a refined study of contrast. Glossy surfaces sit beside rough textures; organic silhouettes rise from geometric bases; movement is held in poised stillness.

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Funghi: a body of work rooted in the artist’s childhood memories of walking through the woods with her father. These sculptures embrace the irregularity of nature — crooked stems, incomplete caps, textured skins — echoing what Zamberletti calls “the real uniqueness and beauty of nature.”

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Together, Bloomen and Funghi articulate a shared sensibility: the belief that touch shapes not only the object, but the experience of encountering it. In a present where much feels fluid and intangible, these works return us to material presence — to weight, texture, and a more human scale.

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As Antonia Campi observed: “Ceramics will always endure, because it is too deeply rooted in human sensibility.”

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