Working from the converted stables of one of the country’s most beautiful villas, it has been run by the same family for four generations.
Founded back in 1924, the pottery continues to support Malta’s highly skilled craftsmen, producing beautifully designed and entirely handmade earthenware designs that have come to define the country’s ceramic style.
Villa Bologna owner Jasper de Trafford went into business with family friends Sophie and Rowley Edwards in 2020 when they suggested taking over the running of the pottery part of the business as it was difficult for Jasper to run both the pottery and the renovation of the main house.
He passed on some important information he learned from his father who ran the business before him, such as where to source the clay, which still comes from Stoke on Trent, as does the glaze.
Sophie, whose mother is Maltese, spent her early childhood on the island. Growing up she always remembered the pottery and villa with so many childhood memories.
Rowley and Sophie got married at Villa Bologna in 2017 and, having been working in East Africa for five years they decided to move to Malta.
Each of the brand’s distinctive hand-painted designs and motifs – fruit, fish and stripes to pineapple and dolphin lamps, and the vibrant Aldo Fish – are inspired by Malta itself.
Every piece is cast using handmade plaster moulds and is air-dried in the Mediterranean sun before being fired and decorated by a team of skilled painters, many of whose history with the pottery goes back decades. Most staff members have been working there for 30 to 50 years.
The traditional Maltese Pineapple and Dolphin lamps are some of the most popular pieces and when you go to someone’s home on the island, they will have one of these lamps. The Dolphin lamp was designed in the 1950s and they still use the same mould.
Conceived in the 1970s, the hand-crafted Pineapple lamp, crowned with leaves, is one of the largest designs and is made using four separate moulds.
Shipping ceramics around the world of course means there is a lot of packing, so the brand really try to make sure that it works on a sustainable level, using recycled brown paper and green bubble wraps made from recycled bottles.
Both the website and shop are beautiful and the tablescape photography immediately makes me want to buy everything. I love the glug glug jugs, the fish plater, and Stripes collection.
By Anna Bance
January 2023
