Blame it on Gloria and Circolo Popolare, but there’s been something in the air lately for slightly kitsch Italian crockery. On our annual pilgrimage to Italy we have often looked in the ceramics shops at the colourful pieces adorned with fruit and frills but have stopped short of buying, wondering what they might look like back home. What Natalie Styner has done with her brilliant Bettina Ceramica is to use her contemporary eye to update these traditional artisan-made products and make them instantly appealing for a London home. Whether adjusting a colour-way or slightly editing a design, her ceramics feel playful and fun but also stylish and modern. A former fashion PR, we met Natalie to find out a bit more about the collection.
Why did you decide to start Bettina Ceramica?
I had the idea on a road trip around Northern Italy with my Dad in 2018 – I was stopping everywhere I could trying to find small, family-run ceramics workshops. I wanted to find all the pieces my mother had bought, but for my new home in London. I met some incredible people and the idea for Bettina Ceramica was born! I love working with generations-old manufacturers to give their archival styles a contemporary spin.
What’s behind the name?
The business is named after my Mum, Bettina. She’s had a huge influence on my life, and always had incredible strength and grace. Everything for her is about family, and this brand is about family, home and special pieces that have been designed to keep for generations. It can be confusing though, as everyone thinks I’m Bettina!
Where do you source your beautiful things?
Literally from the North of Italy all the way down to the very South. In Italy there are special artisanal towns where ceramics are made, they all specialise in very different styles. From Venice to Puglia and everywhere in between.
Do you design them yourself, and who makes them?
It’s a mixture. Most pieces are a collaboration between myself and the makers, some can be a totally new design, some a special and exclusive colourway and others simply bringing old and unused designs out of the archive and giving them a new lease of life. The workshops are owned by the families that started them many years ago – my contacts are often the grand or great grandchildren of the original maker.
Which pieces of the collection do you own and how to you use them/style them?
Ha! All of them! In my kitchen I have the Horsewoman Lamp base on the counter top, the Roma jug full of wooden spoons, and the terracotta basket and Gigli bowl full of fruit. On the walls and next to open shelving I have a mixture of hanging pieces including a Sacro Cuore, Prickly Pears and an Acquasantiera.
On the wall above my cooker I have a Della Robbia hanging, as I did at home when I was a child. I use the Pupa lamp bases in our bedroom either side of the bed and have more pieces hanging in our daughters rooms as they’re so charming. My husband jokes that it’s like a showroom!
Where in Italy is your family from, and what influence does it have on your life?
My mother is from a very small town in Liguria (Northern Italy) and funnily enough, my English father has ended up living very near there now. As an area it influences me hugely, from childhood memories to holidays and trips with my family today. It’s an area that really resonates, it feels like coming home.
Do you speak Italian? Can you share your favourite Italian phrase?
I speak conversational Italian, and can just about get by. My mum says I was so naughty as a child that she gave up teaching me, but I’m not sure that’s true. Something that will always stick with me is a line from Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, that my Mum had hand-painted in our kitchen when I was a child; ‘Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita’, which means ‘half way along our life’s path’- it has always really inspired me, I think it’s so romantic and hopeful.
Where’s your favourite part of Italy for a holiday and why?
This is VERY hard to answer! We were married in the South, in Puglia, and it’s magical there – it feels more wild. But it has to be the North for me, the Cinque Terre in Liguria has the happiest memories for me.
Where do you live in London and what’s good about your area?
We live in converted church vestry in Kensal Rise in North West London – our little area has some interesting buildings; it was great to find a home that’s a little ‘different’. We are walking distance to Queens Park and Golborne Road and there’s a great community feel.
Can you share your favourite Italian haunts in London?
Yes! Ida, Brutto, Luca and Lina Stores.
If Bettina Ceramica was a song, what song would it be?
Great question! My husband always says it should be this song – ‘Everybody Eats When They Come To My House’ by Cab Calloway.
Bettina Ceramica’s new terracotta collection is out now. Shop the full edit online at bettinaceramica.com.
A Little Bird Loves
