ICON

ICON stoppers are shaped by the skillful hands of artist Tullio Mazzotti. For the past three generations, Tullio has kept alive the ancient tradition of Albisola’s potters and the memory of Tullio d’Albisola’s story. During the 1930s, this visionary and innovator potter turned Albisola into the Italian capital of ceramics and artistic avant-guarde. ICON stoppers are the result of a fortunate encounter. They tell the story of the refined beauty of this apparently simple material, which gives origin to an elegant and unparalleled collection, as unique as Auleum’s experience.

Art, Research, and Technology

The collection is the result of highly complex work lasting about one month and producing unique beautiful stoppers through a step-by- step process according to well-established development Based on the original design, each stopper is modeled by hand, and then allowed to gradually dry. After an initial drying phase, it is turned by hand using an iron tool, and details are added. At this point, the stopper undergoes sponging, using a sponge dampened with water and then wrung dry. All stopper surfaces are smoothed out, and its size carefully checked and gauged. At this point, each Icon is ready for the first firing: the stoppers are heated for 12 hours up to 1020° C, then kept at stable temperature for 1h 30, and then gradually allowed to cool for 10 hours. After this first firing, the stoppers are either white glazed, or black enameled, followed by yet again another firing up to 920° C for another 18 hours. Now the glossy, waterproof, and perfect stopper can be hand-painted. A 12% gold paint is used to decorate the stoppers which, during painting and before another firing, look completely black. For this reason, the painter has to follow some invisible patterns on the black enamel out of her own imagination and artistic creation. Stoppers are then fired one last time up to 600° C, to finally display the golden intarsia ICON.