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FONDAZIONE DRIES VAN NOTEN, VENICE, 2026
Publisher: Fondazione Dries Van Noten
Year: 2026
Binding: Softcover
Language: English / Spanish
Artist: Xavier Mañosa
Contributors: Dries Van Noten, Marc Monzó, David Bestué
Glazed Trays documents a four-year investigation by Spanish ceramic artist Xavier Mañosa into the expressive possibilities of glaze, material transformation and repetition. Conceived as a visual archive, the publication presents ninety-nine ceramic trays developed through an open-ended process of experimentation, where different clays, firing temperatures and glazing techniques generate a constantly evolving body of work.
Working within the fixed geometry of the rectangle, Mañosa approaches the tray not as a functional object but as a framework for material research. Throughout the series, stoneware, terracotta and earthenware become surfaces upon which glaze accumulates, shifts and reacts unpredictably during firing. Rather than pursuing identical results, the artist embraces variation, allowing each piece to emerge through the dialogue between intention, process and chance.
The publication includes an introductory text by Dries Van Noten and an extended conversation between Xavier Mañosa, Marc Monzó and David Bestué, offering insight into the artist’s relationship with ceramics, his fascination with glaze chemistry and his interest in the balance between control and unpredictability. Richly illustrated with complete visual documentation of the series, Glazed Trays captures a body of work shaped by intuition, accumulation and sustained material exploration. Published on the occasion of The Only True Protest Is Beauty at Palazzo Pisani Moretta in Venice, the book reflects Mañosa’s ongoing commitment to craftsmanship, experimentation and the poetic potential of ceramic making.
Xavier Mañosa founded Apparatu in 2010 and, in that short space of time, he has become one of the most up and coming ceramicists of his generation. When he took that step, he was living in Berlin. Perhaps that distance helped him to finally dedicate himself to what he had seen his parents doing during his childhood and which he had rejected, as an act of defiance, during his training as an industrial designer. In his case, the most fascinating part is probably that it is a combination of the two – his perspective from a distance and his eagerness to experiment linked to his knowledge of his trade, drawn from his home background.
Until 2009, Mañosa had his creative base in Berlin, from where he returned to the family workshop, located in an old industrial estate in Barcelona, where ceramic products for the building industry used to be produced. Nowadays, it is actually a focal point for antiques, which gives it a most inspiring atmosphere.
What fundamentally distinguishes Mañosa as a modern-day ceramicist is his boldness when it comes to combining different materials and to exploring new forms of expression. Another question by whichXavier Mañosa has always set great store, from the outset, is the way in which his work is presented, which is obviously a reflection of his training as a designer and the fact that he belongs to the ‘digital generation’. On the one hand, his work stands out as a brand and, on the other, he raises its prominence through his Web site and by participating in numerous exhibitions and promotional events both inside Spain and elsewhere.
Pieces by Xavier Mañosa have been exhibited at contemporary design fairs and festivals inLondon, Frankfurt, Saint- Étienne, Tokyo, New York, México and Stockholm, as well as in Madrid and Barcelona.