The Centre for Ceramics Experimentation  (CCS)  seeks to create a space where craftsmanship and technological innovation meet. This union acknowledges the manufacturing sector of artistic and industrial ceramics, but also other manufacturing sectors dedicated to glass, leather, metals, wood and other domains.

Its definition as an “Experimental Center” derives from the experience of those who have worked and work in the ceramic sector. From this extensive and brilliant Skills we seek to recover and maintain artisan knowledge and transmit this to others.

The recovery and retention of ceramics knowledge and of production Skills is the basis for the Experimental Ceramics Centre. Our formation of a unique in-operation studio to this end carries out a three-fold activity:

• The recovery of the technical knowledge of ceramic production
• The development of teaching necessary for disseminating this knowledge
• The training of highly specialized personnel capable of making ceramic companies competitive

The intention to recover and save artisan ceramic Skills  has led to the creation of the CCS Oral History Archive (ASOCCS). Here voices and actions – in the classroom or in the studio – of the potters and ceramic painters as historical teachers are collected and preserved.  Their practical knowledge is passed from the state of a ‘tacit knowledge’, made of taken-for-granted mechanical and repetitive activities carried out by the artisans, towards a clear and conscious knowledge created now in the archive, of the past practices and skills and of contemporary ceramic techniques and technologies.

Recovery and production are therefore two keywords for us. These words are the foundation for another very important concept: innovation. Innovation is seen here as the key to that particular growth process guaranteeing the survival and success of companies and individuals. It is hoped that through active interaction with the Centre for Ceramics Experimentation new sources and actors of innovation can aid the development of the world of ceramics, enabling it to flourish, resist any difficulties that present and evolve continuously.