Sofia Teapot

When Benoît and Ivan were young, they were bequeathed a kiln by Benoît’s father – little did they know that this would set them off on a journey of ceramic discovery. Today, they work from their Parisian workshop, where a team presses, moulds and glazes in the style of the Ancient Romans, using black terracotta clay sourced from quarries in the Paris Basin. The Sofia teapot is a quirky take on a traditional 18th-century design, complete with elegant details on the handle, spout and knob.

Material: ceramic
Country of origin: France
Dimensions: 24.5cm (h) x 12.5cm (w) x 22.5cm (l) / 9.6" (h) x 4.9" (w) x 8.8" (l)
Cleaning: handwash only
Colour: white

Old friends Ivan Pericoli and Benoît Astier de Villatte met at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, leading to the launch of Astier de Villatte in 1996. Since the beginning, they’ve been charmed with ideas of the imperfect, finding beauty in uneven glazes, dark pockmarks and subtle ripples. But these details only emphasise the craft tale behind each piece – stories that start with a single sheet of black terracotta clay extracted from Parisian quarries. They follow traditional Roman methods to bring each ‘dream object’ to life, shaping and inscribing each one with the potter’s initials and finishing with a high-shine white porcelain glaze.

Product number: 2212602062

View more: Astier de Villatte / Coffee & tea