Have a look around and you will notice that the trend of limited editions is more important than what you thought at first sight and more and more industries are involved: from fashion to the book industry, from model-making to pens, from watches to mobile phones. Every day, proposals of items in limited edition are made for a market share that would like to stand out.

Which strategy drives this trend? Basically the idea is that of binding together a buyer to a particular brand, to a trade mark, offering items that are for a selected public and therefore letting people feel to be privileged.
Which are the characteristics of limited editions? Often they are products already on the market that are proposed in certain occasions in particular materials and with a new design compared to the original line. Exclusiveness, this is the magic word behind the charm of limited editions, loved and searched by collectors of every age and status.

Artistic ceramics, and porcelain, is one of the items loved by collectors and, we could add, it has been one of the point of references of educated collectors. It expresses the love for a certain way of creating and therefore it is a way of collecting objects that are the history of mankind, in particular, if they are in limited edition.

What kind of objects are collected?

Kings and queens, popes and emperors, but also a few noblemen were the privileged receivers of big centre-pieces, ornamental stands of fruits, of rich pottery, of refined tea or coffee sets or of small reproductions of old Greek and Roman statues. These items were created for special events by important sculptors and modellers of the time.
These particular items, ordered for a precise scope, are the very first examples of special or limited editions that, time after time, became a fancy for upper middle class people who wanted to distinguish themselves and loved to furnish their home with unique and usually very expensive objects.
Through these items it is possible to outline evolution of taste for ceramics in every aspect and nuance and the evolution or decay of taste and crafts in various ages. A typical example is given by the crib of the XVIII century, with shepherds, trinkets, the thoroughly portrayal of country life and popular scenes. It preserves the memory of tools, daily objects, different items that otherwise would be forgotten.
In the last decades, new techniques, materials, productions oriented to a mass market and not to the creation of valuable objects contributed to understate the quality and originality of ceramics tradition.
Nevertheless, it is encouraging that the production of companies that are part of the big puzzle of Ceramics in Veneto, is not only able to keep alive a strong tradition but alto to suggest modern, fresh and appealing styles and designs.
“Also the best of traditions is best served when renewed” Vittorio Foa wrote some time ago, and it is under this point of view that our more innovative companies are acting, binding a high level of handcraft and the freshness of style and a vivid colour originality, creating new trends for a market that waits for novelties and renewed items.

The charm of the limited edition is a sort of siren songs that enchants companies eager to offer to their own customers, and why not, to history objects of particular beauty or originality. We are always astonished by the variety of objects and by the suggestion that these object are able to transmit both when they are a proposal of items of the past and when they are the successful and appealing marriage of search and experiment.
The educated collector does not only buy objects but always follows the evolution of the company and waits, patiently, the exit of a new limited edition because in this way he/she can realize a dream that makes him/her part of this new special creation.
He knows thoroughly the characteristics of these new productions, notes the nuance in the brand, knows the author, the period and style which it refers to, requires the certification, looks at the base of the objects to find the number of the edition: this data is a joy for the eyes and in most of the cases a secure investment.

Luciano Cazzola – Photo of Giuliano Francesconi