Lladró, porcelain pieces out of the box

Lladró porcelain has attracted a dedicated following of hundreds of thousands of collectors. This somewhat unique community love nothing more than using Facebook groups or Instagram hashtags to share images of their stunning figurines, singing the praises of some rare piece or other that boasts pride of place in their home. Since the early 1950s, Spanish brand Lladró has been a veritable master in the craft of sculpting fascinating figurines whose finesse captivates the gaze, with the porcelain’s shimmering surface and delightfully delicate hues radiating a hypnotic vibe.
Something for everyone
Each year, Lladró launches around a hundred new designs, with one thousand different references available to purchase at any one time. There really is something for everyone, covering all tastes and interests, ranging from traditional figurines, romantic scenes, majestic horses and heroes of myths and legends to everyday scenes, Chinese dragons, African antelopes, figures from Mexican folklore or inspired by the Hindu religion, and even Japanese samurais. The list just goes on and on, with the porcelain being used in endless creative ways to tackle universal themes. Keen to explore all artistic avenues, Lladró also regularly invites well-known designers to give the brand’s original porcelain creation, “The Guest”, their own very modern spin. The piece’s silhouette rarely changes, yet its look is constantly updated in the designers’ wildly creative hands. Jaime Hayon, Paul Smith, Korean illustrator Henn Kim and French graphic artist SupaKitch have all had fun giving it a go.  Over the past few years, Lladró has also branched out into lighting, home accessories and scented candles, with Marcel Wanders putting his name to the NightBloom lamp and pendant light collection.

The Lladró style

Lladró’s now iconic style was first shaped in the early 1950s by the three brothers who founded the brand, with Juan, José and Vincente Lladró gleaning inspiration from the porcelain produced at Sèvres in France, Meissen in the German state of Saxony, and Capodimonte in Italy. Based in the tiny village of Almàssera, in the Spanish province of Valencia, they excelled in the art of sculpting fine porcelain lace and delicate flowers, which were eventually to become their trademark.  After opening their first shop in Valencia, the international stage soon beckoned, and in the 1970s they notably found themselves taking on America, where their work proved to be extremely popular. It was, indeed, specifically for the American market that the Lladró Collectors Society was set up in 1985, counting several hundred thousand members for whom certain special editions were reserved.

Maison&Objet Paris, the brand’s modern-day showcase

Today, Lladró may have stores in numerous major cities, but it is at Maison&Objet Paris that the brand chooses to present its new collections to retailers in January each year, something it has been doing for over a decade. Every single item is produced at the brand’s one and only workshop in Valencia before being packaged up and sent around the world. The brand’s in-house artists begin by sculpting the original out of alabaster, a type of marble that captures the tiniest of details. That is then used to produce a mould, into which porcelain is poured to produce each figurine. The final step involves working by hand to add a plethora of tiny finishing touches, such as flower petals positioned one by one. The art of firing and then painting each piece by hand before adding the matt, satin or gloss finishes is, indeed, what makes these universal sculptures so valuable, seeing them retail for impressive sums ranging from several hundred to several tens of thousands of euros.

Rendez-vous from January 20 to 24, 2022, to find Lladró's pieces at Maison&Objet Paris.
Signature - hall 7.

By Caroline Tossan
Illustration ©Sarah Bouillaud

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