You found out about the ceramic workshop on the Amalfi Coast organised by Hotel Aurora Amalfi and want to know more about it? Here is all you need to know about the event, but above all the story that brought to it, the real story of Ernestine, between love and ceramic!
CERAMIC WORKSHOP ON THE AMALFI COAST
Free for the guests of Hotel Aurora
5.30pm/7.30pm – free drink included for participants
Seats limited to availability, book in advance at the hotel
In this workshop you can discover the ceramic tradition of the Amalfi Coast, through the works of Ernestine.
What do we do?
First we take the pure ceramic after passing it in the top glaze, and then we will draw on it with ceramic colours, following the original sketches of Ernestine.
The completed artworks will be shipped to the guests after their stay.
Why Ernestine sketches?
Because she was the very first Made in Italy to be exported in America, becoming part of the culture of Amalfi!
The next events will be held in September with new upcoming dates
THE STORY OF ERNESTINE
Ernestine Cannon was American, beautiful and elegant and the legend said she was the niece of the American magnate Morgan, who came to Italy during the second war as a spy.
She was a watercolour artist actively involved in the Italian artistic scene, when she almost casually met in Rome Matteo D’Agostino, architect and owner of the “Ceramiche D’Agostino” factory in Salerno.
It was love at the first sight. Matteo split from his family and Ernestine decided to live Italia definitively.
After the Second World War, they lived in Salerno and Matteo worked in a ceramic factory, where the main production were tiles.
But that was the stroke of genius!
They wanted to make a revolution, the factory changed production with new objects and colour: they wanted to innovate because they lived in the post-war period and wanted to look ahead.
So the couple decided to hire a German artist who was an expert in new colour and polish.
That was the trio who created the Ernestine factory: the decorations by Ernestine Cannon, the drawings and forms by Matteo D’Agostino and the research and experimentation on colors by Horst Simonis.
The goal was to leave the typical Vietri decorations and open a new market in Italy, but particularly in America.
Ernestine decorated on white paste support while the objects of Vietri were in pottery, varnished and finally decorated.
The first successful Made in Italy was born: objects and tableware decorated with a refined design conquered the shop windows of New York and in Europe, royal houses, actors and artists.
The beautiful story of love and success ends in 1968 with the death of Matteo D’Agostino and the following suicide of Ernestine Cannon In 1969, when the Ernestine factory in Salerno closed definitively.
Today, with our ceramic workshop on the Amalfi Coast, we are happy to introduce you to the living witness of this story: Daniela D’agostino, the niece of Matteo D’Agostino who drag us into the Ernestine world. She is a ceramic artist with an insane passion for watercolour painting that will lead this event at Hotel Aurora.
If you liked this story, and this technique makes you curious, write us to get more information about the next events dedicated to the ceramic workshop on the Amalfi Coast!