Officine Saffi

04/09/2026

We are thrilled to announce the launching of the Tacchini Prize.

Established through the collaboration between Fondazione Officine Saffi and Tacchini, the prize is part of the programme of opportunities offered to the finalists of “Officine Saffi Award – Forms of Belonging”, the sixth edition of the international award dedicated to contemporary ceramics.

For its first edition, the Tacchini Prize has been awarded to artist Bisila Noha (1988), selected from among the 28 finalists of the Officine Saffi Award to develop a dedicated exhibition project at Casa Tacchini, the brand’s Milan showroom in Largo Treves.

Opening alongside the exhibition “Officine Saffi Award – Forms of Belonging” at Fondazione Officine Saffi, Bisila Noha’s presentation at Casa Tacchini – on view October 1 to November 13 2026 -will offer the public a closer look at the artist’s practice, creating a dialogue between her works and the intimate, domestic atmosphere of the Largo Treves 5 spaces.

Bisila Noha
Tacchini
Fondazione Officine Saffi
P S

Image credits: Christian Cassiel; Valentina Sommariva

04/09/2026

07/08/2026

This September, the Academy workshop welcomes you with a new programme designed to inspire every stage of your ceramic journey.

A place to meet, learn, and create in the heart of Milan, the Academy welcomes everyone—from those taking their first steps in clay to experienced makers seeking to deepen their practice, as well as anyone looking for a bespoke creative experience.

Explore the Autumn programme at officinesaffi.org/academy

24/07/2026

We are thirlled to join Triennale Milano Triennale Milano for "Mud Works", a durational performance by Lithuanian artist and composer Lina Lapelytė Lina Lapelyte opening the new season of FOG Performing Arts Festival 2026 on September 19.

With "Mud Works", Lapelytė continues her performative research into the encounter between voice, gesture, and sculpture as a space for generating new collective meanings. Winner of the Golden Lion as part of the Lithuanian Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale Arte in 2019, she will present the world premiere of a performance in the Triennale MilanoGarden, unfolding through a continuous vocal score that will accompany performers and
audiences as they shape clay together.

Commissioned by Triennale Milano and the Contemporary Art Centre (CAC) in Vilnius Šiuolaikinio meno centras | Contemporary Art Centre as part of the European project PIT Perform Transform Inform, "Mud Works" sees Fondazione Officine Saffi working closely with the artist, supporting the project from its initial development through to the activation of the performance.
This shared process explores ceramics as a sculptural medium and its potential to connect presence, matter, and human relationships.

Free admission upon registration at triennale.org

Photo Credits
1. Lina Lapelyté, photo Rasa Juškevičiūtė, courtesy of the Artist
2. Palazzo dell'Arte, photo Matteo Pasin, courtesy Triennale Milano
3. ALOT, photo Antonella Catalano

Mud Works. Lina Lapelytė is presented In the framework of the PIT – Perform, Inform, Transform: Participatory Performance in Art Museums project, co-funded by the European Union.

20/07/2026

We are excited to announce the finalists for the sixth edition of the Officine Saffi Award - Forms of Belonging. Their works, selected from more than 1,000 applications submitted from 41 countries across five continents, will be reviewed by an international jury and presented to the public in the exhibition Forms of Belonging, on view at Fondazione Officine Saffi in Milan, September 2026.

Congratulations to: 
Marten Anderson (Germany)
Mel Arsenault (Canada)
Arun Baburaj (India)
Jonathan Baldock (United Kingdom)
Phoebe Collings-James (United Kingdom)
Gianluca Brando (Italy)
Tomás Díaz Cedeño (Mexico)
Andile Dyalvane (South Africa)
Mak Gerald (Hong Kong)
Sean Gerstley (USA)
Benedikt Hipp (Germany)
Cody Hoyt (USA)
Samantha Kerdine (France)
Pan Loong (China)
Corwyn Lund (Canada)
Agalis Manessi (Greece)
Takumi Morozumi (Japan)
Antoine Moulinard (Belgium)
Bisila Noha (Spain)
Ornaghi & Prestinari (Italy)
Marta Pierobon (Italy)
Yaerin Pyun (Republic of Korea)
Coline Rosoux (France)
Christie Soledad (Chile)
Emily Stapleton – Jefferis (United Kingdom)
Krzysztof Strzelecki (Poland) 
Flávia Vieira (Portugal)
Trude Westby Nordmark (Norway)

Officine Saffi Award 6th - Forms of Belonging 

Partners: 
Albuquerque Foundation, Portugal
Senter for Keramisk Kunst, Norway
Bruckner Foundation Ceramic Centre, Switzerland
Fondazione Museo Ceramica Savona, Italy
Guldagergaard, Denmark
Ottostumm | Mogs
IAC - International Academy of Ceramics

Jury: Laura Borghi, Valentina Ciuffi, Massimo De Carlo, Jennifer Lee, Marco Sammicheli, François Mellè, Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Asad Syrkett.

10/06/2026

Wednesday June 26, 6.30 pm, artist in residence Natalia Ramos welcomes the Milan public into the ceramics studio for an encounter with her artistic practice: a kind of offering to the in-between, and an invitation to be and rest with uncertainty.

The open studio invites to explore a practice still in motion — where some works remain unresolved, and resolution itself is not the point. What persists across all the works is a quality of intimacy: objects that have been held, folded, or carefully enclosed.

Natalia Ramos (b.1993, Guadalajara, Mexico) is a visual artist based in Mexico City. Her practice centers on the fragment as a site of meaning with pieces that do not seek unity but exist in tension: partial, suspended, suggestive. Working primarily with high-fire ceramics, metal, and textiles, she creates inner landscapes that act as affective archives; translations of the intimate that resist full disclosure.

Lear more about our Residency Program’s Open Call at officinesaffi.org

08/06/2026

A leading international centre for creative research in ceramics and a longtime partner of the Officine Saffi Award, Fondation Bruckner will award one of the  shortlisted artists with an 8 weeks residency - set in the green surroundings of Carouge, Switzerland.

Born from the bequest that Madame Charlotte Bruckner left to the cultural life of Carouge, has been nurturing the ceramic tradition and its renewal since 1998. The foundation's mission is to promote ceramics by providing professional studio spaces, a residency programme, and events such as the Parcours Céramique Carougeois.

Submissions for Officine Saffi Award 6 - Forms of Belonging - are open until June 26, 2026.
 
Participation in the competition is free and provides the opportunity of being selected to win the Main Prize of €10,000, the Young Artists Prize supported by Ottostumm | Mogs  and 6 Residency Prizes developed in collaboration with leading international institutions, as well as the chance to exhibit your work in the Award’s curated exhibition.
 
Jury:
Massimo De Carlo
Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo
Asad Syrkett
Jennifer Lee
Marco Sammicheli
Valentina Ciuffi
Laura Borghi
François Mellé
 
The open call is addressed to individuals or collectives of any age, geographical background, or professional path, and invites the submission of ceramic works that engage with the theme chosen for this edition: “Forms of Belonging”.
 
Officine Saffi Award 6th - Forms of Belonging
Partners:
Albuquerque Foundation, Portugal
Senter for Keramisk Kunst, Norway
Bruckner Foundation Ceramic Centre, Switzerland
Fondazione Museo Ceramica Savona, Italy
Guldagergaard, Denmark
Taoxichuan Art Center, China
Ottostumm | Mogs
IAC - International Academy of Ceramics
Media Partner 
 

 

Images: artists Icaro Maiterena and Burçak Bingöl during their residencies at Fondation Bruckner, awarded through the fourth (Maiterena) and fifth (Bingöl) editions of Officine Saffi Award. Courtesy Fondation Bruckner.

04/06/2026

Officine Saffi Award announces a brand new Residency Prize hosted by Taoxichuan Art Center — the renowned international contemporary platform in the city of Jingdezhen, home to a centuries-old legacy in porcelain making.

Due to its rich and diverse resources and unique geographical position, Taoxichuan Art Center is committed to integrate traditional handicraft into design and material research in contemporary arts, providing a platform for artists, designers and artisans to research, experiment, create, display and exchange.

Submissions for Officine Saffi Award 6 - Forms of Belonging - are open until June 26, 2026.

Participation in the competition is free and provides the opportunity of being selected to win the Main Prize of €10,000, the Young Artists Prize supported by Ottostumm | Mogs and 7 Residency Prizes developed in collaboration with leading international institutions, as well as the chance to exhibit your work in the Award’s curated exhibition.

Jury:
Massimo De Carlo
Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo
Asad Syrkett
Jennifer Lee
Marco Sammicheli
Valentina Ciuffi
Laura Borghi
François Mellé

The open call is addressed to individuals or collectives of any age, geographical background, or professional path, and invites the submission of ceramic works that engage with the theme chosen for this edition: “Forms of Belonging”.

Officine Saffi Award 6th - Forms of Belonging
Partners:
Albuquerque Foundation, Portugal
Senter for Keramisk Kunst, Norway
Taoxichuan Art Center, China
Bruckner Foundation Ceramic Centre, Switzerland
Fondazione Museo Ceramica Savona, Italy
Guldagergaard, Denmark
Ottostumm | Mogs
IAC - International Academy of Ceramics

Media Partner




Images courtesy: Taoxichuan Art Center

03/06/2026

“Terrain” - the monumental ceramic wall installation conceived by Hannes Peer and brought to life by Officine Saffi Lab – is on view at via Niccolini 35a, Milan, until July 1st.

Peer’s practice draws on historical references while remaining firmly anchored in the present. His research echoes key figures of Italian design culture such as Giò Ponti, Lucio Fontana, and Fausto Melotti, as well as the architectural experimentation of the 1960s and 1970s, when ceramics were rediscovered as a primary construction material capable of transcending pure ornament. Yet this legacy is not approached nostalgically. It is reactivated as an operative framework for today.

Free admission upon on-site registration:
Tuesday to Friday, 10:30 AM–1:00 PM / 2:30 PM–6:00 PM;
Saturday, 11:00 AM–6:30 PM.

Via Niccolini 35a, 20154, Milan

lab

29/05/2026

With a unique collection spanning Renaissance majolica to contemporary art, Fondazione Museo della Ceramica di Savona, (IT), will award one of the Officine Saffi Award shortlisted artists with a residency, welcoming them into a vibrant research environment where history and experimentation converge.
 
Fondazione Museo Ceramica Savona manages the Museo della Ceramica di Savona and the MuDA – Museo Diffuso di Albissola Marina . The Museo della Ceramica di Savona is located in the historic center of the city and is housed in the ancient Palazzo del Monte di Pietà.
 
Submissions for Officine Saffi Award 6 - Forms of Belonging - are open until June 26, 2026.
 
Participation in the competition is free and provides the opportunity of being selected to win the Main Prize of €10,000, the Young Artists Prize supported by Ottostumm | Mogs and 6 Residency Prizes developed in collaboration with leading international institutions, as well as the chance to exhibit your work in the Award’s exhibition.
 
Jury:
Massimo De Carlo
Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo
Asad Syrkett
Jennifer Lee
Marco Sammicheli
Valentina Ciuffi
Laura Borghi
François Mellé
 
The open call is addressed to individuals or collectives of any age, geographical background, or professional path, and invites the submission of ceramic works that engage with the theme of this edition: “Forms of Belonging”.
 
Officine Saffi Award 6th - Forms of Belonging
Partners:
Albuquerque Foundation, Portugal
Senter for Keramisk Kunst, Norway
Bruckner Foundation Ceramic Centre, Switzerland
Fondazione Museo Ceramica Savona, Italy
Guldagergaard, Denmark
Ottostumm | Mogs
IAC - International Academy of Ceramics
Media Partner:

Header image: installation view of the exhibition "Sur Plus Plus" by at , the result of the residency awarded to the artist by Fondazione Museo della Ceramica di Savona on the occasion of Officine Saffi Award 5 – (un)KnownTerritories.

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