Dr. Giuseppe Aloi

Dr. Giuseppe Aloi, is the President & CEO of Aloico – Sicilian Home Décòr, LLC. As a native Italian, he has traveled all over the beautiful country of Italy experiencing the unique charm of each region.

His years of experience in the travel industry through his company Southern Italy Tours have given him the opportunity to discover such cities as Caltigirone the ceramic Mecca of Sicily.

Dr. Aloi is proud to share with you the artisans that have joined us in bringing this rich tradition and art of Ceramiche Siciliane to you.

Marchelle D. Crumes

Marchelle D. Crumes, is the Director of Corporate Development at Aloico – Sicilian Home Décòr, LLC. She is responsible for leadership and oversight of the companies strategic partnerships, distribution agreements and operations in the U.S.A.

Ms. Crumes brings 10 years of combined experience in the areas of Customer Relations, Marketing and Advertising Sales for Gemstar -TV Guide International, Verizon Communications and San Diego Magazine.

Ms. Crumes brings a solid background in client retention and acquisition, having worked with such Fortune 500 clients as: Qualcomm, 24-Hour Fitness, and Corporate Express as well as working with HBO, Disney and Showtime on consumer marketing campaigns, promotional events and product launches.

Marchelle’s love of art, travel and passion for ANYTHING Italian has made Aloico a second home and looks forward to bringing the Sicilian decorative ceramic home to you.

Sicilian Ceramic Art

The Sicilian ceramic master’s craft is deeply rooted in time. The timeless art has flourished for millennia, perfectly expressing the essence of Mediterranean culture.

Shapes, colors and motifs born of a profound respect for the past with an eye to future -- terra cotta harvested from the earth and caressed by the Sicilian sun.

A Piece of Sicily

Like any other unique work of art, a ceramic piece begins with an idea. That idea is the vision of an individual artist. Then there’s material. The clay found in each region of the world is unique. Sicilian clay, used in terra cotta earthenware over the millennia, is different from the clay of Mexico or Mongolia because it contains a combination of silicates unique to Sicily. This clay, freshly mined from the Sicilian mountains and valleys, is molded by the hand of ceramic masters and then left to dry under the sun.

The object is then painstakingly painted in ornate motifs with rich glazes before being fire (baked) in the kiln. During this last phase of creation, something miraculous happens. In the heat, the sun-dried clay hardens to become terra cotta and then crystallizes into ceramic.

Its molecular structure changes, becoming firmer but also more durable. The glazed enamel also crystallizes, actually binding to the ceramic as it assumes a deeper, more distinct color.

A Ceramic Choice

The most important factor in making your selection is a matter of purely personal taste – but do keep lead content in mind. It is simply a question of what you like and what you think will look good in your home or office – or the home of the special person who receives the unique gift of Sicilian ceramic art.

Aesthetics aside, the eclectic world of ceramic art is a fascinating place where artistic dreams become precious family heirlooms. To many of us, the very word “ceramic” conjures images of plain wall tiles such as the ones in our kitchens.

The word “ceramics” brings to mind molded clay articles sold in craft shops. While neither perception is actually incorrect, each reflects only a very small facet of the world of ceramics. In its most general sense, “ceramic” from the Greek keramos (potter’s clay), describes a vast array of artistic techniques leading to the creation of items fashioned from hardened or baked clay.

By Any Other Name

Terra Cotta (Italian for “baked earth”) is a process of baking or partially baking clay objects to make them brittle and water resistant. Known as earthenware, the clay pottery of ancient Egypt was terra cotta of this type. Since the color and chemical composition of clay varies from place to place depending on its “clay minerals” (such as silicates), the earthenware of Persia was a different substance from that of Spain.

When the clay is fully baked (fired) at a higher temperature, resulting in an opaque material, it is referred to simply as “ceramic” or “stoneware”. If the clay is mixed with feldspar or steatite before baking, the resulting ceramic material is known as porcelain.

Majolica refers to the form of ceramic earthenware made in Italy that is painted with tin oxide glazing enamels before being fired to a reflective, durable finish. Most of the ceramic art sold in Sicily today is majolica – however, “majolica” or (maiolica) is a rather recent term.

Since The Dawn of History

To discover the origins of Sicilian ceramic art we must look to the dawn of the island’s history. The Sicanians, an ancient Sicilian people, were making terra cotta objects more than three millennia ago. Their art was developed further under the conquering Phoenicians and the colonizing Greeks.

The Romans arrival in Sicily brought a certain Etruscan influence to the ceramic masters’ art. In the Middle Ages, Byzantine and then Saracen (Moorish) styles and techniques made their influence felt.

Sicily is said to be the most conquered island in the world. Not surprisingingly, therefore, each of a dozen civilizations have left their mark on its art. It was probably the thirteenth-century Spaniards of Aragon who first referred to colored Sicilian ceramic objects as “maiolica” because the glazing and firing techniques used to create these pieces were similar to those used on Majorca, the largest of the Balearic Islands.

This was a logical choice of terms since it was the Moors who brought majolica to both Sicily and Spain. One of the things that made medieval maiolica so obviously different from the terra cotta stoneware of the ancient Greeks was its glazing technique. The glazes used in majolica are usually viscous tin oxide colors applied over a white “imprimatur a” (ground).

Apart from its chemical composition, the characteristic that makes majolica different from porcelain is its relatively low firing temperature. Majolica was probably introduced into the Arab world sometime during the ninth century, around the time the Moors conquered Sicily.

This early majolica probably reflected the Arabs attempts to reproduce Chinese and (Mongolian) porcelain; the painted white ground may have been an effort to duplicate porcelain’s naturally light color. In the Mediterranean world, the result was majolica, an art that may be said to combine the best features of both terra cotta and porcelain.