Collection: Xavier Mañosa

Xavier Mañosa founded Apparatu just five years ago and, in that short time, he has become one of the most promising ceramicists of his generation. When he took that step, he was living in Berlin. Perhaps that distance helped him finally dedicate himself to what he had seen his parents doing during his childhood and which he had rejected, as an act of defiance, during his training as an industrial designer. In his case, the most fascinating part is probably that it is a combination of the two – his perspective from afar and his eagerness to experiment linked to his knowledge of his craft, drawn from his home background. Until 2009, Mañosa had his creative base in Berlin, from where he returned to the family workshop, located in an old industrial estate in Barcelona, where ceramic products for the building industry used to be produced. Nowadays, it is actually a focal point for antiques, which gives it a most inspiring atmosphere.

What fundamentally distinguishes Mañosa as a modern-day ceramicist is his boldness when it comes to combining different materials and exploring new forms of expression. Another question that Xavier Mañosa has always valued highly, from the beginning, is the way his work is presented, which clearly reflects his training as a designer and the fact that he belongs to the 'digital generation'. On one hand, his work stands out as a brand and, on the other, he enhances its prominence through his website and by participating in numerous exhibitions and promotional events both within Spain and abroad. Pieces by Apparatu have been exhibited at contemporary design fairs and festivals in London, Frankfurt, Saint-Étienne, Tokyo, New York, México, and Stockholm, as well as in Madrid and Barcelona.