Designer: Aldo Londi (1911 – 2003)

Item: Arabesque Pattern Lidded Box

Manufactured by: Bitossi for Raymor

Country of origin: Italy

Year made: 1950s

Materials: Ceramic and glaze

Dimensions: 2” x 8” x 4”

Condition: Excellent.

Description: Here is a much harder-to-find Aldo Londi for Bitossi in the Piastrelle Bicolore series lidded box with an arabesque abstract pattern modernist design to the lid in striking orange, black and brown colors. We have seen some other Bitossi objects in this series in this color combination such as ashtrays, vases, compotes and handled vessels, but never a lidded box.

This box was imported to and retailed in the United States by Raymor and retains its identifying sticker bearing the initials BIT for an authentic Londi designed and manufactured box, as shown. Finding these boxes with no damage or loss of glaze is hard, so this is a real survivor. We have seen a few others in this design with much less inspired glaze color combinations, and those sellers were asking much more than we are.

Aldo Londi was a painter, sculptor and ceramicist. He started his career with Cav. G. Bitossi & Figli in 1946 serving as the artistic director from 1946 until 1976 and then staying on for the remainder of his life as a major design contributor. He experimented extensively throughout his life with various glaze techniques and styles and some of his forms and glazes have become iconic Italian modern design classics from the midcentury period