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.

LaBote Fall/Winter 2014

We are two creatives who delight in making one of a kind art pieces, including jewelry and pottery. Excited to share our passion with you and hope every pieces you buy brings you joy and luck!

We have been busy busy in the studio getting ready for fall and winter. So much inspiration and excitement is building. We are primarily getting ready for two shoes that are coming up.

Curious what we are cooking up 😜 check us out:

1. Instagram: Shop LaBote see what comes out of our wheel and kiln first! Follow us.

2. Etsy: Shop LaBote purchase our art. Hope you’ll find something you love!

If you like some of our creations but you just want them in different color or shape or etc. we make custom orders to please our customers’ unique tastes.

Update 9/15:
Just added new products and a video on Instagram. Check it out!

Please spread the love and the post, thank you!!

Find something you love!

Surprise..surprise… not everyone is in love with their job. As a mentor, friend, colleague I always hear variations of:
‘meh it’s ok’
‘I just don’t love this’
‘it’s good money’
‘feeds the family’
‘it’s allright, like the people’
‘it’s just a job’
‘it’s convenient and pays the bills’
‘putting kids through college is not cheap and we are not in Sweden!’
‘ugh, got the golden cuffs on, addicted to my paycheck’
‘it’s boring but I am good at it’
…. and so on…

Reality is this: it is ok that not everyone is head over heels for their job. Yes, despite all LinkedIN articles and HBR catchy headlines, this is reality for millions of people. At some level it is ‘just’ a job and only ‘one’ part of your true life. So my response usually goes ‘ok, but find something you love to do. Not saying find a job … find something in your life that you enjoy doing’. This could be as simple as cooking, writing, jumping off planes, surfing, book club, spending time with your kids, bird watching, traveling, blogging 😉 … you get the idea.

Recently in one of these sessions tables were turned… and I was asked ‘huh ok … so what is that something that you love to do, what is that for you?’. For a moment, which felt like an eternity, I was stumped… was not expecting the question. Before I could open my mouth, visuals of my pottery studio and things I have made popped into my brain. Told her ‘I love making stuff out of clay… oh let me show you’

Here is ‘shooting star’:

Here is ‘fun’:

Here is ‘hope’:

Before boring her I stopped at showing her these 3 clay and porcelain ornaments. She got the point – and was surprised, said she expected that my thing would have been something more lofty or tied to work. Hmmm … Will probe on that next time, but for now let’s adjourn; I have a to run to the pottery studio!!!

So have you found something you love to do??

Surprise… meet my boyfriend TED!

Wellll… ok I wish I had a smart boyfriend called TED. So let me introduce you to TED so you know what I am raving about.

TED is always available
He is always there! Whenever I need TED I can reach him on my phone. TED has a lovely app, so easy to use; at my beck and call.

TED is so smart
TED is so smart and witty, being with TED makes me smart. TED makes me want to learn more and be smarter in a gentle, encouraging way. Ahhh and btw he is not in a competition with me – we both like that :)) we are on the same team!

TED is not boring
I can talk to TED about anything, any topic – can’t be bored. A good partner is one that you can talk about everything and can hold a conversation. TED has a bunch of topics from astrophysics to innovation to online dating to religion to politics to food to travel to big data … shall I keep going???

TED makes me laugh
TED is not just serious and nerdy, he makes me laugh! Just a quick search on comedy, stand up.. and sometimes some of the talkers are funny period – even though they are not comedians.

Did I mention that my parents actually approve of TED? He has even impressed them, now that’s a feat! Guess I could keep going on and on about him… but you be the judge, have a look.
Here is TEDs address:
https://www.ted.com/talks/browse

Now would not it be great if TED was real – ha! Hope you enjoy TED as much as I do. Who’s your TED?

Lifelong Learning – Surprise, Made a Pillowcase

Many of us get into a rut easily. We only do the things we know how to do and don’t go out of our way to learn anything new. If you have read our blog you will know we won’t let you settle for that!!

It is amazing that with enough curiosity we can learn to do anything. So today I decided to learn how to make a pillowcase. Luckily there is a store in town that teaches a class on how to make this. Why learn how to make a pillowcase? you say. I say why not? using the brain and eyes/hands to do something you never made before is quite energizing.

Showed up at the designated time and brought my fabric. I was ambitious to make an envelope pillowcase in two colors. Never had done this before and I was already thinking fancy thoughts. Teacher was great, she actually said I should do it. Going with my friend Jenni was nice – we had a blast of fun and left smiling with our cute pillow :)) Can learning a new talent get better than this!

So now that I successfully made my first pillow – I would like you to get out there and go do something for the first time!!
I can already tell this won’t the the last thing I make. Already have ideas about gifts I want to make for a few loved ones.

Trios sisters cookies

Cute cookies and different presentation!

Good thing about the dough of this cookies is you can chill it up to 2 days isn’t that great!

Also it’s very fun to make it with children they can roll the balls and make the indentations and fill each round with different jam.

If you are more than 3 sisters you can stick more rounds with each other it’s really fun or maybe less.

Anyway let’s have some FUN!!

2 -1/2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

2 sticks butter (softened)

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 tbs raspberry jam or cherry jam

2 tbs apricot preserve

2 tbs strawberry preserve

Whisk flour salt.

Beat butter and sugar with mixer about 4 min. add egg and vanilla mix at low speed.

Mix in flour mixture in 3 batches till dough forms.

Divide dough in half and form each into 6 inch disks wrap it in plastic wrap and chill 1 hour.

Preheat oven 175 c.

Roll 3 separate level tsp of dough into a ball then flatten each ball 1 inch wide and less than 1/2 inch thick.

Arrange them into triangle and make deep indentation in center of each round with help of 1/2 inch thick spoon handle.

Arrange them 1 inch apart on baking sheets.

Fill indentations with about 1/88 tsp jam avoiding any large pieces of fruit.

Bake 15- 20 min. till golden brown.

Cool on baking sheets 5 min.

Enjoy fun sisters or one size bite sister! just use your creativity and have so much delicious & fun!