For sake of travel

Art of traveling corner for this weekend-share.

Travel with style beauty creativity and uniqueness from place to place all decades with different ways and different lives sometimes to find your self or lose sometimes to go deeper and meditate or just to forget about all life and happenings or sometimes just to find happiness and stillness and peace sometimes to go away with no reason  just to be away. no meaning and not living. just feeling and being where you are. who you are. as you are. excepting. no judging. no hating. forgiving. healing. just loving.

Finally still traveling or just traveling  in your mind deeply until no longer you travel but find somewhere to settle in travel. maybe in your heart maybe in this world. maybe eternal. maybe internal or external. maybe here or there. wherever you are what ever you are just travel with all your heart and being.

Italian doors

Lecce’s native son and artist Alberto Buttazzo!

One lazy afternoon while strolling the cute streets of Lecce, we entered an unassuming shop. It was hardly recognizable as a shop from the outside.  Inside Alberto and Dino were sitting and chattering away as if they have been waiting for our arrival all this while…

We did not know that we were looking at the portrait of an artist, until we started looking around the shop. I saw a print and immediately knew it would be mine. Maker turned out to be Alberto himself. 

 

When people like each other no matter what the languages they can communicate. Though we know some limited Italian it was easy to connect with him.  He told us about his art and showed us his books, prints, the printing machine and more. 

  

 This is Alberto’s passion!  He has been doing this since 1934, his father founded the La Teatrale typography shop in 1926.

 

Dino, his brother in law, and AnnaMaria, his sister – a soprano, joined our lively conversation.  Also we had the pleasure of meeting Antonio, Dino’s talented son.   

Hard not to fall in love with culture, art, passion… we felt lucky that we walked in on this history waiting to be told and heard.

 

If you are visiting Lecce, drop by and say hello to Alberto and family. The shop is located at Via dei Perroni, 21 Lecce.  If you are far away then follow him on Facebook at Tipografia Del Commercio Lecce.

Grazie Alberto!!!  

LaBote – Moorish Inspiration

Inspiration is the key for any art and artist. When inspiration hits everything flows. Recently old Spanish and Moorish art, architecture, and designs became an inspiration that hit hard.  We thank all those brilliant minds and artists who created such history and legacy that still ignites a fire of creativity today. As a result, here is what flowed from my hands – enjoy!

Luminerie – Starry Nights



Luminerie – Emerald 



Luminerie – Opulence



Shop LaBote on Etsy

Have an inspired Sunday!!

LaBote 2015 – Studio Community

Art is a gift that keeps giving to your heart and soul. We are looking forward to an artful year in 2015.

Here is a look at new works and some of our favorites from our studio community. It’s a pleasure and privilege to work with other artists.

Last night Dan showcased his new pitcher. Freshly glazed and waxed, we adored the intricate handle details. He threw the stoneware pitcher and then hand built the handle to look like a woven grape wines. Wow is all we got! can’t wait to see final look.

Colleen has a way with symmetry and a wide range of works. From large forms to small ones like these jaw dropping porcelain Christmas ornaments…

We are all about peace, so we were cranking out some peace for our holiday gifting.. perfect on a wall as a daily reminder. We are spreading it one sign at a time!! Here are two examples:

There is a whole lot more… Follow us on Instagram for stories, videos and more.

Take a peek at our shop LaBote on Etsy.

Drop us a private line for purchase questions:
surprisesaffron@gmail.com

LaBote: Fresh into and out of kiln!

We have been busy, as in busy like Santa’s workshop 🎄🎄🎁🎅

So we have been making a lot of items for our Christmas and holidays sale. Here is a glimpse of what’s going in and coming out of the kiln:

Owls, butter dishes, and fun modern porcelain vases:

Luminaries in making: just pop in a candle and watch it glow and cast shadows on your walls


Interested in anything you saw here drop us a line: surprisesaffron@gmail.com 📩 or visit us at our Etsy shop.

LaBote at Gallery Night 2014

We were delighted to be invited to participate in our city’s gallery night. LaBote is our ceramics pottery studio and we make both functional and art installations.

For this show we decided to showcase our Cube Series 2013 – 2014, stoneware.

Always fun deciding how to showcase our cubes. Got lucky with Christian, a photographer and Jason the gallery owner helping out with details, while I directed ‘… no, 2 more inches to left please. Ok stop right there let’s hang!…’

I got to hang the crowning piece of the series that I made. The hollow donut with occlusions.

Most fun part of the evening was to watch and talk to people about what their favorite piece was. Can you guess???

Ok here it is…. The green lattice cube was the most admired.

Blessed to be passionate about what we do. Blessed to have the support of friends and loved ones – thank you for coming out to see she show and support! 🙏

Shop LaBote at Etsy.

If you want to inquire about the cube series please message us.

Spring comes to LaBote 🍀🌻

Don’t know about you but we are waiting for sprint to arrive. The days are now longer and more light. We have been busy in our pottery studio/shop LaBote, working on delightful things for spring and all the senses.

Mood Clouds Wall Art – We want sunshine!
Always looking for the silver lining.

See more details of this item in our shop.

White/Green Modern Vase – We want flowers!
Who does not! Looking forward to gardening and flowers everywhere.
See more details of this item in our shop.

Multipurpose Bowl – Peacock
Beauty in intricate details… just like all signs of spring in air, water, and earth!
See more details of this item in our shop.

Want to see what else we are up to… visit our store LaBote: https://www.etsy.com/shop/LaBote

Let us know what’s your favorite piece and how you plan to greet this Spring. Cheers!!

Keeping Family Arts Alive

Pottery tradition goes way back in our family…. our late grandfather was a master potter. Somehow his genes passed along, as I keep finding myself more and more at the studio.

Sadly, I did not have the pleasure of learning from him directly, but grateful somehow I caught the pottery bug and will continue on the tradition. He used to make his own clay, as my dad shares the stories. We are spoiled nowadays; just buy few pounds of whatever type clay you want and you are ready.

Pottery is not just wheel throwing, there are some many techniques and hand building. For example, I like combining the skills – throwing part of a bowl and finishing it off with hand building part of it.

Lately, I have found myself making lot of owls. Owls of every shape, size, and personality. This was a spontaneous inspiration, as very often I don’t set out to make a specific piece. Everyone has a style of working – some of my studio peers set off with a very specific idea like ‘I will make a carafe and two tumblers’. I arrive at the studio without a thought… the clay takes shape as I start playing, throwing, or hand building.

Ahhh… the world of glazing; it can make or ruin a pice of pottery. Luckily I do have a glazing muse, it’s called Nikita! A studio friend who has a magic touch with glazes. Usually a quick chat with Nikita results in picking the right glazes. Thank you Nikita!

This owl is called Frankie – the blue eyes reminded us of Frank Sinatra. It is handbuilt from ochre clay, hand painted, and then glazed. Isn’t it a hoot!!

Visit LaBote on Etsy to explore more unique art pieces.

Do what you love, and love what you do.

Holiday Gifting Edition

We decided to share with you some of our favorite Holiday Gifting ideas. This is usually a wonderful time of the year but also possibly the most stressful – as many try to shop for gifts and worry about giving/not giving.

Giving starts with true care and knowing the people you are giving to. Some of the best things we received were not material gifts at all. Last year, one of the best gifts I received was a lavender eye pillow made by my good friend using lavender from her garden and stitching the pillow herself.

With a few ideas we hope to reduce your stress and make this a great year of giving:

1. Hosting a dinner or potluck
What can be more cozy and fun – we are social creatures. Giving from your time and opening your home to your friends is a great gift in itself.

2. Hand Made
Never gets old to make some of the gifts you are giving. In the process of it, you will even figure out who you care enough to handmade something for or not. We made ceramic owls this year for our nearest and dearest ones; some as desk ornaments an some hanging. See a few examples here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/LaBote

3. Care Baskets
This a new one for us. This year we are making care baskets filled with easy goodies to give for friends in need. Here are some of the items: gas card, crackers, cheese, fruits, home made cookies,… give practical things that will help them stretch their budget.

For more ideas, we have compiled some of our favorite sites:

For the Artist
Give a gift certificate to a local art studio.

art supplies:
http://www.dickblick.com/

prints and other:
http://fab.com

For the Foodie
Give a gift certificate for a local cooking class.

http://fab.com

http://chefscatalog.com

For the Humanitarian
First, if you can, give to legitimate charities in your city.

Second, do global good, give to legitimate charities that help humanity globally.

For the Fashion Lover

http://fab.com

http://shopbop.com/ci/4/lp/holiday-gift-guide.html

For the Person who has Everything
Surprise them and give them a hug!

Quality always wins over quantity, both for gifts and friends. Giving is not about giving a lot of stuff, it’s in giving meaningfully.
Happy giving!