Ceramist Coralla Maiuri takes us inside her 16thcentury Roman palazzo

Artist and ceramist Coralla Maiuri takes us inside her studio in a 16th-century Roman palazzo.

THERE’S YOUR STANDARD home studio, and then there’s the 16th-century Roman palazzo from which artist Coralla Maiuri runs her renowned porcelain and ceramics company. To say it’s an ideal creative environment is an understatement: The palazzo offers a stately backdrop for the exuberant mix of old and new that defines her output. Her studio occupies two of its grand rooms, a rectangular space and a smaller, triangular one, and features a dreamlike view of a nearby basilica through a window in the chimney. Dotting its shelves and tables are examples of her work—delicately gold-leafed plates, oversize vases splashed in expressionistic swaths of color— alongside antiques and the faux-resin statue she uses as an haute apron hook.

Before her big decor break in 2017, when Bergdorf Goodman began selling her eponymous porcelain homewares, Maiuri was already an accomplished painter, sculptor, and furniture maker in her own right. (She had also worked as a model and made a rare jump to television production, cultivating an artistic vision across a number of mediums.) Now, her atelier is a full-on force in the design world. And, like many Italian companies, it’s a family affair: Maiuri acts as creative lead, and her husband, Filippo Lancellotti, handles all things business.

“My work is an obsession,” Maiuri says. For the most part, it’s inspired by nature and incorporates aesthetic elements that nod to 17th-century Rome. “Baroque curls have a strong energy,” she says of a common motif in her pieces. And Chestnut, Maiuri’s forthcoming spring tableware collection for Moda Operandi, derives its name from the color of classic Italian terra-cotta floors. Each handmade piece will be painted with 24-karat gold.

While a round dish may be a simple, everyday shape to some, to Maiuri it conjures something much more dramatic—and galactic. “They are small discs,” she says, “that have followed us for centuries like miniature suns.” corallamaiuri.com

Artist Coralla Maiuri in her studio. ABOVE: Maiuri’s new Chestnut collection.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: A fauxresin statue, which Maiuri frequently uses as an apron hook. A view of Sant’Andrea della Valle from the terrace. The kiln beneath one of Maiuri’s paintings. Pieces from earlier tableware collections.